Doom Kindred
by Absoltheharbinger
Summary: Where darkness falls, and the fate of the universe rests in the hands of someone who just wants to be normal, how will the games of the gods play out? Rated M: Features murder, non-lemon sex, language and adult themes. OC, mostly game universe. Enjoy!
1. The Student and the Absol

BOOK I

DOOM-SEER

The challenger stopped suddenly in his tracks. He was staring hard at two figures, sitting on a park bench. He appeared to be in thought, then went up to them.

One was a boy, barely older than eighteen. His hair fell in a long, dark green sheet down his back, apart from a single forelock bisecting his right eye. He was wearing a grey jacket, zipped to the neck and with loose, flared sleeves. His trousers were black, sensible and neat. He had left a blue leather courier bag on the seat next to him. His belt had six balls in it; each was the size of an orange, though two were black with a single yellow stripe, two were red, one purple and one blue with two red spots. Propped open in his lap was a thick book with a large fossil on the front, emblazoned with the title "Nature's Legacy: A Guide to Modern Palaeontology", and he was copying notes into a small pad of paper.

His companion was reading the book over his shoulder, and could not have looked more out of place in a small park in Rustboro City. Her entire body was covered in soft, white fur, like a cat's, except for her face. The fur on her face was very short and black as the ace of spades (literally, though there was a navy tint), and a long, sickle-shaped horn hung down from her temple to her right shoulder. Her nose was small and triangular, glistening with moisture. Her fingers and toes were shiny black claws, and a triangular bat-wing tail poked out from above her jeans. She was also wearing a short orange tank top. Her hair was also long, but snow-white, and obscured her left eye. The other was a warm red hue. She was wearing a strange amulet around her neck, a pink chunk of crystal.

The challenger cleared his throat. The boy looked up. He wore a strangely stern expression, but his eyes betrayed any sign of emotion. His companion looked up and smiled, revealing pointed teeth.

"Yes?" the boy said, in a quiet, depressed tone.

The challenger pushed up his cap. He had messy black hair under his red and black baseball cap, and a red t-shirt. Riding on his shoulder was a curious animal; vivid, electric yellow with brown stripes on its back, round red cheeks, pointy ears tipped in black and a long tail in the shape of a lightning bolt. He looked like he came from out of town.

"Don't tell me," interrupted the boy before the challenger so much as spoke, "You're Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, and you want to battle?"

"How did you know that?" Ash asked, astounded.

"I have a gift. And I accept; I could use a decent battle for once."

Ash nodded absent-mindedly. The girl was a Pokémon; an Absol. But normally, Absol were quadruped, beast-like Pokémon, about 3'11'', with a thick mane of fur and a cat-like face. But this one was, and there was no way around it, almost human. She was about 5' tall, and built like a young woman. But at the same time ... maybe it was the flattened nose ridge, or the dainty, high cheek-bones, or those startlingly red eyes. There was a kind of beauty there. It _worked_.

"How about a three-Pokémon knockout match?" Ash said.

The student stood up, laying his stuff neatly on his seat.

"Let's roll."

Ash threw his first Pokéball. A blaze of crimson energy flooded from it, forming into a huge, powerful bird. It was easily as tall as Ash, and a dull grey in feather. On its head was a large, blade-like comb, hooking towards its cruelly sharp beak. A Staraptor. The student cocked his head, interested.

"Staraptor, huh? You've been to Sinnoh?" He chuckled humourlessly, and drew a black-and-yellow Ultra Ball from his belt. Another burst of light, and a giant sea serpent coiled into being. It had huge black eyes that shone as though it was crying. Two long red fins hung from the side of its head. The milky skin tone gave way about half-way down its slender body to bright, iridescent blue scales, ended in a tail-fin that looked like a fan. Milotic.

"Staraptor, Aerial Ace!"

"Milotic, Protect!"

A force-field surrounded the 20' serpent just before Staraptor struck. A crash like a gong filled the area. Staraptor wheeled away, dazed but alright.

"Milotic, quickly, use Surf!"

Milotic gave a mighty cry, summoning a tsunami from nowhere. Staraptor couldn't get out of the way in time. The deluge smashed the bird from the air like the hand of a careless god. Staraptor shook itself off, and valiantly flew back at Milotic.

"Look out!" Ash yelled. Staraptor plummeted in order to dodge a jet of water so forceful it gouged a deep channel in the dry earth. Staraptor smashed into Milotic again and again, too small and fast for the much larger Pokémon to dodge.

"Milotic, return!" the student shouted, drawing Milotic back into its Pokéball. He pulled out one of the red Pokéballs, whispered "Maybe you'll do better," and opened it.

The Pokémon looked like a tall green dinosaur, with a red underbelly and golden seeds sticking out of its back. Its tail was long and thin, but razor-like leaves grew from it, as well as its wrists. It was a Sceptile.

Ash smirked. His Flying-type moves would be incredibly powerful against the Grass-type Sceptile.

_Powerful moves don't necessarily win battles_, said a small voice at the back of his mind, in a voice scarily similar to the student's.

"Staraptor, Brave Bird!"

Immediately, Staraptor climbed very high. Sceptile just stood there watching it. Suddenly, Staraptor began to dive. It was travelling at a very steep angle, homing in on the tiny green speck like a cruise missile. Sceptile, meanwhile, curled its right hand into a fist, concentrating on the plummeting bird. Staraptor tucked its wings and feet in. Sceptile was getting closer every millisecond.

No-one noticed the student's eyes momentarily turn to a deep, ember-red.

"Sceptile, Focus Punch!"

Sceptile's fist cannoned through the air and dotted Staraptor right between the eyes before the bird could reach it or change course. The force of its plummet was knocked askew, and Staraptor ploughed into the ground. Its body went limp. It was Knocked Out.

Ash retreated the Fainted Pokémon into its Pokéball. He plucked another one out and threw it.

"Infernape, GO!"

Infernape was a tall, reddish ape. Its feet were like its hands, and a bright flame blossomed from its scalp.

"Infernape, Flame Wheel!"

"Sceptile, Dragon Claw!"

Infernape cloaked itself in brilliant orange flame, charging at the dinosaurian Sceptile. Sceptile leapt out of the way just in time, retaliating with a burning scratch. Its claws blazed with arcane energy as they slashed through the air. Infernape jumped over Sceptile and slammed a fistful of fire into Sceptile's back.

Sceptile screeched with rage. Its back was blackened and burned, the smell of charred flesh heavy in the air. The leaves on its tail glowed as it slashed it at Infernape's face. Infernape dodged the attack, striking back with another Fire Punch.

The student didn't get time to warn Sceptile; Infernape was too fast. Sceptile, already weakened from Staraptor's impact and the burn, crumpled under the hit.

The student called back Sceptile. He appeared to be thinking. A horrible thought struck Ash; _He wasn't trying. He was sizing me up._

"Absol, you're up!"

The Absol-girl bounded into the arena, crouching like a predator, growling faintly. It seemed suddenly less human, and much more dangerous.

"Infernape, Close Combat!"

"Absol, Psycho Cut!"

The tables were turned. Absol swung a paw through the air, and a purple shockwave flew at Infernape. There was a sound akin to shorting electricity mixed with a blood-curdling scream as the purple light enveloped Infernape, burrowing into its skull. Infernape flew backwards, screeching as the mental cacophony shook the foundations of its sanity. It slumped to the ground, its wiry frame limp from exhaustion. It was done.

Ash shook with anger. How do you fight speed? With speed. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

Pikachu leapt off Ash's shoulder, eager to take up the challenge. Absol was easily two or three time the size of Pikachu. Absol opened her mouth wide, and blew a searing gout of blue-white flame at the Mouse Pokémon. Pikachu bounded from the flames as though stung, but that opened the gap Absol needed. She simply disappeared into thin air.

"Pikachu, run!"

The yellow Pokémon ran. Absol reappeared, her paw slicing through the air where Pikachu was a second before. The momentary confusion opened a gap for Pikachu, and it started running circles around Absol. The tactic was one that had worked very efficiently several years ago, when Ash was fighting against Lt. Surge for his third Gym Badge. His Pikachu was small and fast enough to make Surge's Raichu so dizzy it could not battle any longer. Unfortunately, Absol was made of sterner stuff. Absol back-flipped out of the circle and sent another incandescent wave of flame at Pikachu. Pikachu barely escaped by the fur on his tail.

"Iron Tail!" Ash called.

Pikachu leapt at Absol, tail shining blue. Absol slipped out of synch again, reappearing right behind Ash. She bounded straight over him, driving a fist at Pikachu, who dodged. Absol landed the shattering punch into the compacted dirt, but followed through with a Psycho Cut, which Pikachu also ducked, and it blasted a branch off a nearby tree. Taillows flitted into the sky, chattering in irritation.

"Volt Tackle, Pikachu!"

Pikachu sprinted at Absol, so fast it was merely a yellow blur. Lightning shorted from its body, wrapping it in a halo of electricity. Absol smirked, and warped out of the way, launching another punch at Pikachu. Pikachu ducked it, retaliating with a Thunderbolt. Absol twisted out of the way, and the discharge blasted a patch of grass to cinders.

Ash growled in frustration. _They're toying with me_, he thought. _Somehow, that Absol knows what I'm about to do. That trainer must be able to command Absol without saying anything._

It was too demanding on Pikachu to dodge the volley of attacks, and the little Pokémon was tiring. It was all he could to evade the desynchronising death-machine.

"Pikachu, look out!"

Pikachu turned around. A faint glimmer of darkness popped up between him and Ash. Absol flew out of it, fist drawn back. Pikachu tried to jump over her, but was sluggish in his exhaustion. Absol punished this with a Sucker Punch to the forehead. Pikachu collapsed, beaten.

"Pika ..." it managed, before it fainted. The implication was clear; well done.

Absol scooped up the injured Pokémon, and gave it to Ash. He clutched Pikachu in his arms. The student strode forwards. He stuck out a hand.

"Good battle. You were better than I thought."

Ash stared at him. Close to, he looked tired and gaunt, as though he had seen things no boy his age should see. His cheeks were hollow and sunken, and on one was a peculiar marking, tattooed on in an ochre colour. His ears were long and pointed, and stuck out prominently from the side of his head. He wore earrings; the left was red, and looked like a stylised, ruby A. The right was an M, made of sapphire. The markings looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where from. His eyes were a dull greyish-green, flecked with dying embers of blood-red. He revealed about as much as a steel bulkhead; though he showed nothing, it was that which was hidden that made him interesting.

"Thanks," Ash said, taking the hand. "Your Absol really was something else. How long have you had it?"

There it was; the student's eyes burned momentarily like hot coals, but soon died down. "I'd rather not say. I'll see you around, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

Those last words sounded final, but Ash called to the retreating student, "Who are you?"

The student half-turned, his profile thrown into shadow by the sunset. The dark made him look bizarrely like his Pokémon. "My name is Henry Parkinson."

"Are you all right?" asked the Absol, as Henry started to pack away his book and notepad. Her voice was fruity and soft, yet there was a mewing, cattish edge to it. "You weren't half acting strangely just now."

"I'm fine. It's just that I have the horrible feeling that something bad is about to happen."

"Did you mean to beat him that badly?"

A rare smile flickered at the corners of Henry's mouth. "Hell yeah."

Absol laughed so hard she coughed. Henry smiled again.

"Come on," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go home."


	2. Pests

_**Author Note: Hi, Absoltheharbinger here. In case you were wondering, Henry is an OC loosely based off myself. HE IS NOT FROM THE MAIN SERIES. Also, please don't give me flak about whether Ash is out of character; he won't be coming back ... muhahahaha ... [clears throat] I do not own Pokemon, guys. I'd have thought that would have been obvious, being as how its on this site ...**_

* * *

><p><em><em>Absol was groggy the next morning. There was a smell of cooking bacon in the air. He was so considerate to her sometimes.

Somehow, something didn't feel right. Absol could feel it. The smell was overpowering. She could sense another body lying next to her in the bed. Her eyes snapped open. She screamed.

A dead body was lying on its side, facing her. Most of the flesh on its face was scorched off, revealed patches of blackened bone. It had no eyelids, lips or cheeks, its charred teeth grinning a skeleton's rictus, and its eyes wide and staring straight into her own. The only thing that identified it was the earrings, fused to the corpse's flesh. She flinched backwards in terror, falling out of the bed.

What was once a bed now resembled a lump of charcoal. The carpet was ash and dust. An orange glow permeated the room from a broken window. Absol edged out of the room, out of the apartment building, out into the street.

Rustboro City was a desolate wasteland. All that remained of the buildings were burned-out husks. It was like looking at thousands of rotten teeth. Fires still burned in the distance. The silence was eerie; by the sounds of things, she was the only survivor.

A crash filled the void like a gunshot. Absol looked around. Part of the wall had fallen down, embers still glowing in the edges. A single person stood in the gap. It was the corpse from the bed. It opened its sooty mouth, and screeched.

Other forms clambered from the ruins. All were scorched beyond recognition. All were dead. And yet they came for her.

Absol ran. Ran as fast as she could. The stumbling, limping people followed. Her breath tore in her throat. She choked on the ashen air. She tripped on a blackened spur of wood, cutting a deep gash in her foot. She swore and ran on, but her foot would not take her weight anymore. She must not stop.

But exhaustion claimed her. She had not eaten for twelve hours, and her body demanded energy. But there was no food in this burned, scorched hell. The bodies closed around her. She screamed for help. No-one came. They clawed at her with wasted fingers, tearing at her arms and back. She tried to fight them off, but it was like fighting off the fire itself; every time they fell, they got back up with renewed invigoration.

A stark realisation fell on her. She was doomed. The harbinger of disaster, condemned to death. She barely stayed conscious long enough to feel ruined teeth sinking into her from all sides.

Her eyes snapped open in an instant. She back in the bed. It was still dark. The person beside her was alive, untroubled in his sleep. She shuddered. A cold sweat drenched her body. It was just a dream. Just a dream … a dream … a dream … dream ...

"Are you alright?"

She glanced at him distractedly, nodding with a 'hmm' of assent. Absol didn't want to show it, but she felt like she would be sick if she opened her mouth. She looked half-heartedly at her breakfast. Henry had, in fact, done bacon for breakfast. Her face turned a pale green beneath her thin, black fur.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked again. He set a couple of mugs of hot chocolate before her.

Tears welled up at her blazing eyes. She looked momentarily like a child, frightened by the bogeyman. "Nothing. I'm fine. Just being silly."

"Hardly silly; you were screaming and thrashing earlier, when I tried to wake you up. And before that you looked like something was eating you."

The imagery of the nightmare flashed back so vividly she choked back a sob. "It was a bad dream. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"What happened?"

"I'm fine!"

"No, you're not; that's what people say when they don't want to talk about their problems."

A tear trickled down her fuzzy cheek. "If you were to die, what would I do?"

Henry pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm not going to die. Not any time soon. I've got too much to live for."

He gazed into her eyes, copper-green locking with ruby-red. "Come on; I've got a presentation to deliver."

Absol was sitting offstage, listening to his presentation on the importance of friendship and comradeship. She had to admit, he may not look like much, but he knew how to hold a crowd. Absol stole a smile.

"Excuse me."

A shabby-looking old tramp was standing behind her. A large, scrawny blue frog with two large, red claws stood at his heel, croaking gruffly. He wore a filthy coat and trilby hat, but his eyes sparkled with knowledge, and his beard looked trim and well-maintained.

"Err ... who are you?" she asked.

"Oh, they just call me the Pest Controller."

"But I've never called ..."

"A different, altogether more dangerous type of pest. I deal with mutants."

"Mutants?"

"Human and Pokémon alike. Mutants are a weed, swamping and suffocating innocent society. Oh, they _seem_ likeable enough, but then they strike."

"Very interesting," said Absol, uncertainly. _What is he doing here?_ "But what does all this have to do with me?"

He put his hand on her shoulder. Normally, this would be seen as a consoling gesture, but his fingers were clamped tight, and he seemed much more hostile.

"I'm sorry about all this. I hope under that grotesquely disfigured body there is an innocent Pokémon, but I can't run the risk. Think of it as a liberation."

Absol screamed as the Toxicroak struck, its poison-laced talon carving through her flesh and into her veins with practised ease.

"... and that's why we ..."

A shrill scream of pain and terror cut across Henry's speech. He frowned and shouted off-stage.

"Absol, you all right?"

Silence. That was worrying.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this presentation is postponed until further notice." And with that, he fled.

Absol wasn't looking good. Sick yellow tendrils snaked through her skin, visible even under her fur, spreading from a puckered, weeping wound in her throat. She was staring at nothing, milky swirls filling her eyes, and her mouth was foaming. She was breathing intermittently, gurgling on the bloodied froth in her throat, and she was shaking spasmodically. He smeared a finger in the wound. Some sticky, stringy fluid followed.

"Is everything all right?" asked the teacher, lobbing his head round the curtain.

Henry looked round at him, seeming much older, his eyes shining red in the half-light.

"Call the Pokémon Centre. My Absol has been badly poisoned. NOW!" he added, a tear rolling down his cheek.

He pulled a flask of yellow fluid from his bag, spraying the contents into the wound. "Come on, baby," he muttered, "don't give up on me."

"I've told the Pokémon Centre. They say bring the Absol ASAP," called the teacher, coming backstage.

Henry dabbed a tiny droplet of the venom onto his tongue. It tasted disgustingly bitter and smoky.

"I hope you know what you're doing; we don't want you falling ill too."

"Toxicroak poison," Henry mused, spitting the venom onto the floor. "Have you got a Pokémon that can easily carry her?" he asked the teacher.

The teacher nodded, releasing a tall, blue-grey, muscle-bound man with four arms. A Machamp; more than enough to carry a sick Absol a few blocks. The Machamp picked up the convulsing Pokémon, cradling her with surprising gentleness in arms like beer barrels.

"It's lucky that the Pokémon Centre is not far!" shouted Henry, as they bolted from the school gates.

"How long do you reckon she's got?"

"The Antidote should help, but I'd say we'd be lucky to buy twenty minutes!"

"Champ!" _That should be enough!_

"I hope so!"

"Good afternoon, welc-"

"No time!" gasped Henry. "My Absol needs emergency help."

The pretty, pink-haired Nurse Joy looked taken aback, but took one look at the shaking Pokémon, and nodded. "Bring her in."

Absol was strapped down to the examination table, due to the fact that her flailing limbs nearly upset several computers. The diagnosis took barely any time at all.

"You were right; it was a Toxicroak. She needs SecretPotion."

Henry thanked the nurse and pulled out his Pokénav. He knew someone likely to have some SecretPotion.

"Hey, Dug! OK, I'll cut to the chase: Do you have any SecretPotion?"

"Whoa, how do you know about that?"

"For its name, it's hardly much of a secret. Now do you have any?"

"Yeah, I do. Just bought some, as a matter of fact."

"Get it to Rustboro Pokémon Centre ASAP. Absol's not doing good."

"God, you're serious."

"Just get it here," he said, clicking off the Pokénav. _Hold on, Absol. Help is nearly here._

It was ten agonising minutes before Douglas Parkinson, Henry's older brother, arrived. Dug was twenty years old, tall, and skinny. He had short, messy, mouse-brown hair, blue-rimmed glasses and blue eyes like glass chips. He always wore a black trilby hat, and he wore a khaki T-shirt and cream trousers. He landed and hopped off the huge blue swallow he was riding. The Swellow chirruped as he returned it to its Pokéball.

"How're you doing?" asked Dug, extending a hand.

Close-to, it would have been easier to tell them apart. Dug was thickset and muscly compared to Henry, and his skin was darker. This didn't necessarily mean he had been travelling to exotic locations; Henry spent so much time hiding from the sun he had developed the pale complexion of a vampire (no-one actually knew whether he did bite young maidens in the dead of night, but it comforts people to assume not). His ears were also normal-shaped, as opposed to Henry's elfin ears.

Henry didn't take the hand. "Do you have it?"

Dug produced a paper pharmacy bag from his rucksack. It rustled faintly as he shook it.

Henry took it and ran into the Pokémon Centre, Dug in hot pursuit. Henry poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser in the corner. He plucked a single brown pellet from the bag and dropped it in the water. Then he frowned. If this were a cartoon, a small thundercloud would have formed over his head.

"What's wrong?"

"If this was SecretPotion, it would have dissolved, turning the water a golden shade. But this isn't dissolving."

He took another pill, and bit it in half with one of his canines. It looked strangely sharp, like a fang. One could see the fury rising in him. He turned to face Dug. In his palm was half a ...

"_Chocolate peanuts?_"

"Hey, how was I to know? That guy was selling it cheap!"

"_What_ guy?"

"He looked like a tramp. It was a genuine bag, though."

Henry groaned and belted his head on the table, revelling in the slice of pain that sleeted through his skull. He dug out his Pokénav and located a number.

"I don't care if you're busy, can you get here in the next six and a half minutes?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you have SecretPotion?"

There was a sound of a zip being undone. "Yep."

"Check it dissolves in water."

"Yes, it does. Henry, what ..."

"Get to Rustboro Pokémon Centre. You have exactly six minutes and thirteen seconds."

A figure stepped out of a portal of blue light. She was very tall, as tall as Dug. She was wearing a knee-length black coat with a black fur trim, and black trousers and boots. Her hair was long and fair held in place with a hairband with four large, black beads. Her eyes were grey as slate, with an amused look. Her Pokémon looked a bit like a bipedal wolf, with what appeared to be a cream boxer's vest and bright blue shorts. It had a large, metallic spike on its chest, and another on the back of each paw. Lucario.

"Good morning, Cynthia," said Dug. "It's been a while."

"Here's your SecretPotion, Henry. And, Dug; I've nearly forgiven you."

"Hey, that was a fair battle."

"Henry," asked Cynthia, "what in the name of all that is holy is going on? You call out of the blue, and I wasted a perfectly good Martini just then."

"No time," he said, grabbing the paper bag.

He checked his watch, and bolted back into the Pokémon Centre. By the time Dug and Cynthia caught up, the SecretPotion solution was being injected into Absol. Her thrashing ceased, but her breathing was still fluttery and weak. Her eyes were still staring, but they were clearer. The EKG was blipping reassuringly.

He could have laughed with joy. Absol was going to live.

"Hey, easy."

Absol sat up on the bed. It was half an hour before she was well enough wake up. Cynthia had gone back to Sinnoh, and Dug was heading back to Johto. Nurse Joy was shining a light into her eyes.

"Everything seems to be okay. You're free to go."

Henry helped Absol to her feet. She was still shaky, but could stand.

"What happened? All I know is that you were attacked."

Absol shut her eyes, grimacing as she tried to recall what had happened. "There was ... a tramp, or something. He had a dirty hat and coat. And a short white beard. He called himself the Pest Controller, I think."

Henry frowned. "Pest Control?"

"I can't quite remember what he said. Something about ... weeds and ... parasites. Oh yes, and mutants. He went on a bit, and then his Toxicroak attacked."

"That was a narrow escape. Two minutes and you would've been dead."

"What was he on about? He thought I was a mutant, or something."

"He's not going near you again. If he does, give him hell."

Absol turned to look at him. "Henry?"

"Yes?"

"You saved my life back there. Thank you." She leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"It was the least I could do. I still owe you."


	3. A Fiery Redhead

They got to Henry's apartment with no other major incidents. He demanded that she should go directly to bed. For once, Absol gave no complaints.

The apartment had six rooms; the main bedroom, the guest bedroom, the kitchen, bathroom, a large study, and the living room. It was quite large, for a student lodging, not to mention that generally Henry and Absol had the place to themselves. Henry usually let out a Pokémon or two purely to fill the space.

Absol went to lie down in the guest room, as it was soundproofed. She fell asleep as soon as she hit the mattress. Henry tucked her in and closed the door behind him.

The apartment fell very quiet. Henry liked quiet usually; it allowed him to pursue his interests, like reading, or (at night) simply gazing at the clear night sky. But without Absol, he felt strangely lonely. He flipped open a Pokéball and an Ultra Ball. In a blaze of light, his Sceptile, freshly healed from his encounter with Ash, appeared.

Next to it was a most bizarre creature. It had a small, domed body like an upturned bowl, four stubby legs and a short tail stuck out. It had no obvious feet. It had a long, supple neck and a huge, round head. Its head was easily the size of if its body, and appeared to be grinning goofily. Only two 'teeth' stood in its top 'jaw', though really they were its eyes. Its neck was ringed with eight long, lilac tentacles, waving mesmerisingly in a non-existent breeze. A Cradily, a Pokémon resurrected from an eons-old fossil.

"Cra-Cradily, Cradily Cradi," he said, in its own language. _I'm going out, don't make a mess._

Cradily nodded in acknowledgement. Cradily had, shortly after its resurrection, had a habit of grabbing everything that moved with those long tentacles. The result was little less than catastrophic. Fortunately, that was some months ago.

Henry stepped out of the building via the fire escape. He pulled the purple Pokéball, the Master Ball, from his belt. It was not so much a Pokéball as a work of art. It was also his only one, and the one he used least in battle. The Pokémon held inside was frighteningly powerful.

Henry opened it off the edge of the rickety iron stairway. This did not trouble him.

The Pokémon was huge. It was 23' long, and a sleek, green serpent. Its large reptilian skull was easily as long as a twelve-year old child; framed with four flat horns, and its eyes were yellow, unblinking and imperious. It had two short arms, and no obvious wings, but floated in the air purely by its spiritual link to the sky. The air around it smelled of ozone. The legendary guardian of the sky: Rayquaza.

Henry fearlessly leapt onto the dragon's neck, right at the base of the skull. Falling off did not trouble him any more; if he fell, Rayquaza would soon catch him.

It roared, eager to fly.

"To Lavaridge Town; I'm picking up a friend."

Rayquaza shook its majestic head, and soared off into the sky. Henry fished out his Pokénav.

"Flannery, you busy?"

"No, of course not. It's been weeks since the last challenger."

"D'you fancy coming over my place?"

"Yeah, sounds better than waiting for another useless trainer. I've just been to the hot springs, so you'll have to wait for me to get decent."

"Cool. Be there in five."

Henry decided to land outside the town; a 23' dragon of legend would only cause panic. He found Flannery outside the Pokémon Centre, still towelling off her hair.

Flannery was the Lavaridge Town Gym Leader; fourth in the Hoenn League. Her passion for battling burned even hotter than her Pokémon, and that was saying something, for her specialty was the Fire-type. She was a little older than Henry, and still fairly new to being a Gym Leader, as her predecessor retired a few months previously. She was slim and about an inch shorter than him. Her hair and eyes were both pinkish-red, and her hair was long and stuck up at every angle, even when wet, no matter how hard she tied it back. In the end it made her look like an erupting volcano. She wore a black T-shirt with a flame pattern splashed across her chest, jeans and trainers.

"Hey there," he called to her.

Flannery looked round. "How did you get here?" she asked, pulling him into a hug. Flannery was one of Henry's best friends.

"Flew. Landed about halfway up Jagged Pass to avoid arousing suspicion."

"What's suspicious about flying?"

"When you see the Pokémon I use, you'll see."

"Are we off? I need to drop this off," she said, waving a bag, presumably containing her bathing suit and towel.

"I can wait, though I'd rather not leave Cradily alone for too long, or I'll return to a bombsite."

She laughed, running to her house, flinging the bag's contents into the dryer, and locking the door behind her.

The flight back was slightly more difficult. Henry had to go to the summit of Mt. Chimney, the volcano overlooking Lavaridge, in order to bring out Rayquaza. The trees of Jagged Pass were too dense for Rayquaza to fly through without swatting off any passengers, and though Henry had jumped through them on his way down, it was impossible in reverse.

Soon enough, they arrived in Rustboro City. It turned out that Cradily had done the exact opposite of making a mess; the Pokémon was tidying up, using its eight tentacles to dust surfaces and generally clear up the clutter of Henry's studies. Sceptile was preening the pot plants.

"Nice work, guys," Henry said, admiring the effect. The sitting room was easily the largest in the flat, and bore a TV, plush leather sofa, desk and computer, and well as a bookcase literally groaning under stacks and stacks of books. Dug had once said that you could find anything on that bookcase, up to and including an old sausage sandwich that Henry threw away shortly after.

"How did you afford all this?" Flannery asked, astounded. "There is _no_ way you got this on a student loan."

"I did some work with Devon a while ago. They paid me a fat wedge of Credits for my work on fossil resurrection." Devon Corporation was a major company in the Hoenn region. They worked very closely with the Silph Co. in Kanto, and develop everything from medicines and Pokéballs to, as stated, resurrected fossils.

"You know too much!" she laughed punching him on the arm playfully, before flopping down into the sofa. "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Yeah, of course. What do you want?"

"Cup of coffee would be lovely."

Henry soon returned with two mugs, setting them on the coffee table.

"So what's going on with you, then? Where's Absol?"

"Absol is resting."

"Where?"

"In the guest room; it's soundproof."

"Soundproof? Why would that make any difference?"

Henry heaved a huge sigh. A single tear welled in the corner of his eye. "Absol was Poisoned earlier."

"That's not too bad."

"This was a full-blown murder attempt, not just a battle issue. There was enough neurotoxin in her to turn you into a vegetable in a second. It's a miracle she held on for nearly twenty minutes."

Flannery gulped, and sipped some coffee. She gasped in pain as it scalded her tongue. "What sort of cold-hearted bastard would do that? Trying to kill, willingly ..."

"She claims it was a man calling himself the Pest Controller."

Flannery, taking another sip, spat it out vigourously. Henry's eyes narrowed.

"Does that name mean anything to you?"

"No," Flannery said, a little too quickly. "Yes," she admitted. "He's been stalking around Lavaridge a bit lately. He's giving the whole town the creeps; no-one dares do anything out of the ordinary. He says he's righteously cleansing the world of mutation. We say he's paranoid. This doesn't explain why he's taken an interest in Absol."

"I think I know. I can show you, but you'll have to be quiet. She mustn't be disturbed."

"Oh. My. God."

"Shhh!"

"How did this happen?" Flannery whispered.

Henry pointed at the pendant, hanging loosely round Absol's neck.

"It's that, but I'm not explaining in here. Come on."

They left discreetly. Henry turned into the main bedroom, pointing at a lump of the same pink crystal on the desk. "I found it at Meteor Falls. I could tell it was special, even though to start with it was a mere lump of pitted grey stone. Devon Corp. managed to refine it into a crystal, but that exacerbated its power. It can assimilate the attributes of a nearby life source, into a bioelectric web."

"Err, run that by me again," Flannery asked, confused etched all over her face.

Henry sighed. "When it's close to a nervous system, it can assimilate genetic attributes from those nearby. Absol's was a prototype; it didn't work as expected. The crystal was powerful enough to warp her entire physiology, but only with one form. She assimilated the basic body structure of human, but it exhausted the power. Thankfully, it appears to be a temporary transformation, and it seems to last only while she's wearing."

Flannery's eyes widened. "Does that mean ..?"

Henry silenced her, seeing what was coming.

"No wonder this Pest Controller tried to kill her," she said.

Henry laughed. "I'm not going to worry. If he tries anything again, Absol will likely tear him apart on sight."

"That's a tad unnecessary."

"He tried to kill her. She doesn't forget a grudge easily."

It was about seven o'clock by then. "Oh, bugger," said Henry, looking at his watch. "I forgot. I wasn't banking on company this evening. You don't mind takeaway pizza, do you?"

Flannery grinned. "Bring it on!"

It was now nine in the evening. The pizza boxes sat on the coffee table, abandoned. There was a bottle of beer and a glass half-full of water next to them. Henry and Flannery were sitting on the sofa, watching some rubbish, unfollowable film on TV.

"You know what," said Flannery, reaching for the remote, and switching the TV off, "bother it all; I'm going to bed."

"Hang on a sec," said Henry, sipping his water. "You're staying the night?"

"Yeah, it's Saturday tomorrow. Don't pretend you're going to be doing school work."

"It's more the beds I was worried about. I suppose I can kip on the sofa."

"Why? There's a big double bed in there with your name on it."

"Guest's comfort comes first in my books."

"Stop being such a gentleman."

"I can't, Flannery. It's in my nature."

"I'm going to win this."

She did win, in the end. But Henry wasn't going down without a fight. He lay on the very edge of the bed, still fully clothed (though not wearing his socks, for some reason). Flannery was having a shower. He was passing the time by reading a book.

"What're you reading?" a voice said in his ear.

Henry didn't flinch, or even move. His eyes swivelled to the source of the voice. Flannery was hovering at his shoulder, wrapped up in a fluffy bathrobe.

"And how long have you been reading over my shoulder?"

"Long enough to know that I don't understand a word of what that book is on about."

Henry shut his book. "It was explaining how fossilisation processes may be influenced by climate and tectonic activity."

"What?"

"How stuff gets buried, to be blunt."

"Do you ever read anything that isn't mind-numbingly boring?"

Henry let out a hollow laugh. "Of course I do. I do read stories and stuff. And I'm still not comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as you."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"That's what worries me. You've already had three beers."

"Oh, stop being such a killjoy," Flannery said. Henry was staring at the ceiling, but he could hear the sound of a bathrobe being taken off and dropped on the floor.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked. "You look kinda empty."

"Good night, Flannery," he said, somewhat coldly, reaching for the lamp switch. Flannery grabbed his wrist.

He stared into her eyes, wearing a stony expression.

"What is it?"

"Why are you being so blank?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Is there someone special in your life or something?"

Henry frowned. "No, why?"

"Why not?" she asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Because I'm a loner, I read too much, and I don't get out enough. Anything else you think I should add?" He sounded slightly irritable, and his eyes were developing a speckling of red.

"No, it's not that. But sometimes you should make the first move."

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Henry's voice was turning glacial.

Flannery recoiled. "I'm only asking why; there's no need to snap." A tear rolled down her cheek.

Henry's expression softened. "I'm sorry, Flannery. But relationships aren't my strong point. I can resurrect a fossil, taste-test a poison, and work out the reaction that will make light capturable, but not get a girlfriend. I guess I'm just scared of looking like an idiot."

Flannery stared at him. "I don't think you're an idiot. Just this afternoon, you diagnosed a fatal neurotoxin, got Absol to the Pokémon Centre, and got her healed without so much as breaking sweat. Few can stay cool under that sort of pressure. You are one of the most human people I know. So stop being so depressive!"

She let go of his wrist, and he smiled just a little bit as he shut off the light.


	4. Berserk Button

Absol was the second to wake, plodding sleepily into the kitchen to be greeted by Henry, who was cooking an omelette. "Morning," he said brightly.

"Murnan," she replied, half-asleep.

"Sleep well?"

Absol rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her huge furry paws.

"Mmm," she said, by way of agreement.

Henry pushed a third of the omelette onto a plate, and set it in front of Absol. She immediately picked it up, and bit a huge chunk off. The only problem with her human form was that she couldn't grasp anything like a pen or cutlery. Henry didn't care. Absol was merely a test subject (before you get any ideas, she offered to be a test subject in the first place). When he managed to perfectly refine the crystals, any Pokémon could have the dexterity of a human. But would it be worth it?

"Hi, guys!" called Flannery upon entering the kitchen.

"How long have you been here?" asked Absol, confused.

"Since yesterday afternoon."

"Oh," she said, looking down and taking another bite. "I must have been asleep at that point."

"You were," said Henry, handing Flannery some omelette. "Sorry, I didn't tell you, but you needed your rest, and I needed some human company."

"I'm fine, Henry."

"I won't be until we are sure the Pest Controller won't hunt you down anymore."

Henry's Pokénav rang suddenly. The caller ID show it was Dug. Henry pressed a button and laid the Pokénav on the table. A faint hologram of a tall figure in a dark coat stood from the screen.

"Hey," piped up Flannery, "How did you get the hologram?"

Henry raised a hand to silence her. "Dug, what's the news?"

"I've found the Pest Controller."

"Great, where are you?"

"Goldenrod City."

"Head for the Radio Tower. Climb to the rooftop. I'll meet you there."

"Shouldn't be too hard," said Dug, as a piercing yell of pain and a tirade of 'language' filled the room. "I've got him restrained, though; how am I supposed to get him to the roof without looking suspicious?"

"Take the fire escape. That should go high enough. If not, use a smokescreen or something."

Henry shut off the link, and the figure dissolved. "You lot coming?"

Absol had a fury in her eyes that was rarely seen. "Definitely."

"Count me in," added Flannery.

If Rayquaza was confused as to the party of three hitching a lift, it didn't show it. Henry sat at the front, right at the base of Rayquaza's skull, with Absol and Flannery in tow, Flannery sitting at Rayquaza's smooth green shoulders. It wasn't very comfortable sitting on the smooth green neck, but unless she had some as-yet-unknown means of getting to Johto, there was no real choice.

Henry took the mighty dragon up above cloud cover, to avoid prying eyes. It took about an hour to reach Johto due to their being forced to hug the cloud cover. Fortunately, it was stormy in Goldenrod City.

Rayquaza dropped them off on the rain-slicked rooftop. There was only a small generator house and the radio mast in sight. Lightning seared the bruised purple sky intermittently.

Henry took Absol under his coat. Flannery stamped the cold out of her feet.

"Where the hell is that stupid bloody ..." she fumed.

"Stupid bloody what?" asked the apparently solid wall of the generator. Henry and Absol chuckled and Flannery hit the ozone layer as the form of Douglas stepped away from the wall. His hooded coat seemed to be chameleonic, and blended so well into the wall that he was invisible in the stormy twilight.

"Where is he, Dug?" asked Absol.

"Inside, probably being pecked to death by Porygon."

Henry wrenched the generator house door open, just as a loud "-uuuccckkk!" escaped the Pest Controller's mouth. Porygon chirruped contentedly.

The Pest Controller was looking rather roughed up. His hat was askew, and his upper arms were looking slightly scorched. It probably wasn't helped by the vicious-looking bird gripping him in a half-nelson. It was easily taller than he or Dug, with a stubby tail, long muscular legs and brown scaly arms ended in wicked claws. It had a sort of mane of long cream feathers sweeping back from its red mask-like face. Its body feathers were red, but there was a yellow flame pattern rising from its feet.

"I see you're making good use of that Torchic I gave you, Dug," said Henry. Hate buzzed in his throat. "Blaziken, blazi ik'n," he added, addressing the Pokémon.

The powerful Pokémon obliged, grasping the man by the scruff of his neck, and threw him bodily from the room. He flew from the generator hose and skidded painfully on the concrete.

He scrambled to his feet, but Absol was standing over him, and punched him in the face.

"Ow!" he wailed, reeling back. His hat fell off.

His face was younger than they expected; he barely looked older than thirty. His hair, it seems, was dyed grey, and the roots were auburn. His nose was broken, the blood black in the half-light.

"What was that for?" he yelled at Absol, getting up.

Absol kicked him in the calf, deliberately stabbing him in the tendon with her talons. He crumpled again.

"You selfish asshole! You tried to kill me!"

"Hey, it was nothing personal! I'm paid to do this!"

"So I'm Little Miss Freak, am I? Because I look a little different?"

"But that gruesomely deformed ..."

"I'll gruesomely deform _you_ in a minute!" Absol's voice had risen to a shriek not even the wind could compete with. "Do you even care? Do you stop to consider how many innocent lives you've ended for a few credits? Or are you just some cold-blooded asshole with no conscience?"

"Leave me in peace!"

"WHY WOULD IT BE SO WRONG TO END YOUR MISERABLE LIFE RIGHT NOW?" she screamed, levelling her claws at his throat. He gulped; one false move and she would impale him.

Henry placed a gentle hand on her arm. "Because that would make you no better than him."

"Thank you, good man ..."

"Shut up, you. I'm not doing it to save your ass."

The Pest Controller decided to listen. There was a wiry kind of danger in the kid.

"We'll settle it the old-fashioned way. A Pokémon battle. One on one. If I win, you will not go near me, my Pokémon, or anyone else's."

"I'm not going near that mutant Porygon anyway," he muttered, earning another punch in the face from Absol.

"OK,OK! I'll get a Pokémon out!"

He decided to play his Toxicroak. The blue frog, now it was in a combat situation, suddenly looked very worried by the five-foot beast it was circling.

"I don't see where you want to go with this," scoffed the Pest Controller. "I think this is madness."

"Madness?" laughed Absol, in a demented, inhuman way, as though mocking him. She indicated Porygon, but never looking away from Toxicroak. "Audio file 300, variation C, Porygon."

Porygon nodded, floated over to her side, and morphed its beak into a loudspeaker. The wind dropped slightly in expectation.

"THIS IS JOHTO!"

Absol swung her paw in a wide arc, casting a huge shockwave fuelled by her own hatred. The Psycho Cut caught Toxicroak square in the chest, lifting it from its feet and hurling it from the rooftop. The Pokémon screamed as it disappeared into the darkness.

"You've killed my Pokémon!" he shouted indignantly.

Henry leaned in close, staring into the Pest Controller's blue eyes with his own slowly reddening ones. "I guess that makes us even. And Toxicroak will not die; it will be critically injured. Kinda like how you left Absol. The physical recovery time will be a few weeks at most. Mental recovery will most likely be never. Now you know the pain of those who lost from your hand."

Henry grasped the man by his coat lapels. "Don't come near my Absol again." Henry pushed him back down, knocking the Pest Controller out cold in the process.

"I'll make sure to pop into reception on the way down," Henry said to Dug as he made for the stairwell.

"Why?"

"There's some trash up here they may want to pick up."

He set off, with Absol in tow.

Flannery looked at Dug. "You do know you've taken years off my life, don't you?"

"I do it regularly," he said with a smirk, stepping into the wall. Flannery shrugged, and ran to follow Henry. It was almost scary; she had never seen him that angry.

* * *

><p><em><strong>There was a good reason why Henry was so angry, but to understand, we need to go backwards in time ... 'til next time, folks ...<strong>_


	5. Sympathy for the Devil

_"__Come __on, __Henry.__"_

_ Henry hurried to catch up with his parents. He was with his parents, and his brothers Dug and Toby. For a family holiday, they went to the foothills of Mt Coronet as part of their trip to Sinnoh. Henry was excited; he loved Pokémon, but was only seven, and too young to get his own from Professor Birch. Not that he hadn't tried. Dug was nine, and next year for his birthday he would collect his first Pokémon. Toby, who was only four, was hovering close to Mum._

_ Dad had led them on a walk around the lower slopes, pointing out curious Pokémon that looked like rocks but with thick strong arms. One had startled Dug as he accidently stood on it, and it had started flailing its arms in irritation._

_ Dad stopped suddenly, looking up the mountain. He said something, but Henry wasn't listening. He was looking at the pretty bands of strata on some exposed rocks. He pondered how they got there._

_ He must have been pondering for a long time, because when he looked up, it was dark. Henry stood up and looked around. He couldn't see his family._

_ Henry didn't panic easily, but some vast creature was chewing its way slowly through his resolve. He looked up the mountain. Maybe they were waiting up there for him._

_ It was a long, hard trek. His feet and hands were sore by the time he reached the next ledge. But one thing was sure; Mum and Dad weren't here. A deep chill was settling on his shoulders. It was snowing._

_ It was warm in Hoenn, where he lived, so snow didn't come often. But there was an almost brutal, knifing edge to this snow, as though it was defending its territory. Henry shouted, but the snow thickened, and it swallowed his voice._

_ He tried to run, forgetting that he was on a narrow ledge on a mountain. He tripped over the edge, and tumbled down the slope. He slowed when he hit a boulder. Henry groaned with pain. He felt the chill shut down it world, until all was black._

_ A small, hound-like creature with a black cattish face and white fur found him some time after. It was shocked; the Man-child was freezing up, but she was too young and weak to carry or even drag him to safety. It sniffed the Man-child, so it may recognise his scent in the blizzard. Then she bounded up the craggy slope with practised ease._

_ Further along the ledge was a natural cave, lined with straw to form a little den. There were two more of the creatures inside. One was the same age as the one who had found him, but male, and walked with a swagger. His name was Shiro. The other one, Noroi, ignored him, and turned to the third. She was the mother of the pair, and easily strong enough to help the Man-child._

_ Noroi's mother was irritated to be woken up. "What do you want?" she snapped._

_ "Mother, there is a Man-child on the cliff. He is in danger."_

_ Her mother was wise, and realised what must be done. "Shiro," she said, getting to her feet. It was against her better instincts to venture in such a fierce snowstorm, but sometimes there is no choice. "Come; we must help this Man-child."_

_ "But mother," he whined, "He is but a Man-child. He is not worth wasting the effort. The Great Spirit Articuno is enraged, and no sensible ..."_

_ "Don't you tell me what is sensible, my lad! You know we help where possible. That is the way we live."_

_ Shiro followed like a shamed dog, but muttered all the way. He, for all his cockiness, would never dare disobey his Mother._

_ "Where is the Man-child, Noroi?"_

_ Noroi locked onto the scent, and found the man-child. He was half-buried in snow and his lips were slowly turning blue._

_ "We must hurry, Mother. He won't have long in this cold."_

_ "Hey, since when did humans do that?" Shiro asked, pointing and laughing at the man-child's blue lips._

_ His mother cuffed him round the ear, and told him to grab of the Man-child's shoulders. It was slow progress, but eventually the three off them dragged him into the warm den._

_ Noroi placed her head on his chest, cringing slightly at the bitter chill that radiated from the Man-child. Please don't say he's gone to join the Creator ... _

_ But the Almighty One was smiling on the man-child, and she could hear a faintly fluttering heartbeat. "He must be kept warm, Mother. He is as cold as the golem, Regice."_

_ "Then I shall keep him warm tonight. He will be better in the morning."_

_ "I don't see why you did it," scoffed Shiro. "After all, one day, he'll grow up and kill us. All Men do."_

_ "Shut up, Shiro. Just because you hate Men, doesn't mean we all believe they should die."_

_ "Children," called the mother, curling around the Man-child, who was shivering violently. "Enough fighting!"_

_ It was morning before long, and Noroi was up and about at dawn. The mountain was bathed in a golden glow. The warm southern winds were playing in her white fur. It was a beautiful day._

_ But it must wait. There was time to play later, but now she padded over to the Man-child. He was fast asleep, and shivered vaguely every once in a while, but his skin was a healthier shade, and she could almost hear the heart hammering in his chest. She had begun to fear the worst._

_ Shiro stirred next, getting groggily to his four paws. He shook himself awake, took one look at Noroi, sitting on her haunches, and at the man-child, hidden in his mother's fur._

_ "Oh. It survived the night, then."_

_ "No need to sound so disappointed. Thank the Thousand-Armed One that he did."_

_ "How can you tell it's a he?"_

_ "I just know. It's probably the pheromones."_

_"__Pheromones?__Yuck;__have__you__gone_soft_for__him?__"_

_ "No!"_

_ "Oh well. I suppose if it did die, we would have food for the day."_

_ Noroi looked at him in horror. "You wouldn't!"_

_ "Why not? It's meat; it's the same no matter where it came from."_

_ "You barbarian."_

_ "Children ..." growled the mother._

_ "Mother, Noroi wants to mate with the Man-child!"_

_ "No, I don't!" she hissed indignantly._

_ "Shhh, he's waking."_

_ The Man-child opened its eyes sleepily._

_ "It's OK, child," said the mother soothingly. But the Man-child looked at them blankly._

_ "He cannot understand us, Mother."_

_ "I know some Men-speak," said the mother. She looked at the frightened child. "What are you called, Child of Man?" she said, in Men-speak._

_ "Henry," it said, "Henry P-P-Parkinson."_

_ "Why were you on the mountain in the snow?"_

_ Henry looked at the mother blankly. It was as though his brain had frozen in the snow, and was only just thawing._

_ "Too bad," crowed Shiro, "It's an idiot. Not good enough for you, Noroi."_

_ "I DO NOT WANT TO MATE HIM!"_

_ "Children, calm," growled the mother, "you are scaring him." She looked at Henry again with her huge red eyes. "Fear not, Henry Parkinson; you are safe here."_

_ Henry adapted quickly to his new life, Noroi admitted. He was still too weak and afraid to leave the cave, but he was slowly learning their language. Soon, he could stage simple conversations with her. He seemed to like her most, and when he wasn't talking to her he would gaze at her and her mother, enraptured by the beautiful sleek creatures that had saved him._

_ "Who you?" he asked her one starlit evening._

_ She thought how best to simplify the phrases. "Noroi," she said, pointing at her chest. "My name Noroi."_

_ "Nori?"_

_ "Noh-row-ee," she replied, emphasising the syllables._

_ "Noroi."_

_ "That's right," she said. Forget what Shiro said; Henry was kind of cute in his innocence. But that did NOT mean she wanted to mate him or any other Man. "Me Noroi."_

_ "You Noroi!"_

_ "Well done!" Patience may be a virtue, but Noroi took it to the point of divine transcendence._

_ "Henry want see stars."_

_ "We go outside?"_

_ Henry shook his head violently, a blue tinge filling his hollow cheeks. "The cold. It hurts."_

_ "Don't worry. Noroi scare cold away."_

_ Henry thought for a bit. "OK."_

_ It was not so cold outside, more pleasantly cool._

_ "Stars clear tonight," she noted._

_ "Yeah, they are."_

_ She looked at him in shock. "You speak our tongue?"_

_ "I pretend to be bad at it to humour your brother," he said, shrugging. He took off his tattered coat; a night on the mountainside and five in a cave had taken their toll._

_ Noroi was startled. She never seen a human remove their skin before. The she realised that it wasn't a skin; his arms were bare without the coat, and his t-shirt rippled vaguely in the breeze. He looked small and frail without a thick coat on, and his arms too skinny, like withered sticks._

_ "I pick things up quickly," he said simply._

_ "Can't you remember what happened that night?"_

_ "No; it's like my brain froze up and died in that time. I remember very little."_

_ "Shiro is very mean to you."_

_ "I don't see why. He just is."_

_ "I don't think he likes Men."_

_ "That's awfully presumptuous of him."_

_ "You don't need to humour him. He humours himself. He wants to be the Pack Leader," she spat. "He only cares for himself."_

_ "You don't like him?"_

_ "He thought we should have left you in the snow. Then when you woke up, he said that he would have ... done something that sickens me too much to say."_

_ Henry gazed at the moon. "Your mother has done much for me. She's kind."_

_ "Yes," she agreed. Her eyes were large and round, so like her mother's. Of her four brothers, none had her mother's eyes. Theirs were all narrow and squinting. She had often wondered why._

_ "Now, my children. It is getting late, and you must be getting to bed."_

_ Henry looked around. The mother was standing behind them. "Of course, Mother."_

_ Henry got to all fours, and padded off to the den. He wasn't used to walking on two legs yet, but had adopted a means of walking on four legs like Noroi and Shiro._

_ "He is becoming more and more like us," the mother mused._

_ "Mother, he speaks almost perfectly in our tongue."_

_ "But he needs to return to his own people someday."_

_ "Can't he stay?"_

_ The mother shook her head. "He has his own mother to return to. She will be most worried for him. But if you insist, he may stay with us for another week or so."_

_ "Thank you, Mother. He could learn much from us."_

_ "Shiro tells me you are fond for the Man-child. You have been spending, he says, an unhealthy amount of time with Henry."_

_ "Shiro considers any amount of time with a human unhealthy."_

_ "Even so, he seems to thinks you may be smelling pheromones."_

_ Noroi groaned. "I do NOT want to mate with Henry! He's not still going on about that, is he?"_

_ The mother gave Noroi a sly grin. "Do not worry, Noroi. I will hide your secret from Shiro."_

_ "Secret?"_

_ "Moonlit meetings?"_

_ "Don't even go there, Mother. He's a Man."_

_ "You do need a mate ..."_

_ "Mother, I'm seven!"_

_ "Never mind," she said. "Come, it is time for bed."_

_ The next morning came as a surprise; Noroi's mother had woken him up. She was carrying a large white something in her mouth._

_ "Good morning, Child of Man. Did you sleep well?" she asked, dropping the thing._

_ Henry sat up on his haunches. "Yes, thank you. Mother, what is that?"_

_ The mother smiled secretively. "You may have to stay with us for at least another week; I am worried for your health. I shall wait until my children wake before I say what I am planning."_

_ As if on cue, Noroi stirred._

_ "Good morning, Noroi."_

_ "Morning, Henry. Is Shiro awake?" came the groggy reply from a white bundle of fur in the back of the cave._

_ "I don't think so. Mother, what is happening?"_

_ The mother just smiled like a painting, betraying nothing, but damming mystery._

_ "Shiro is waking, Mother," Henry noted._

_ "Indeed he is. Your hearing is remarkable for a Child of Man."_

_ Henry felt flattered. The mother motioned the children to join them. They sat in a rough circle, the bundle in the centre._

_ "As I have said," began the mother, "I feel that it will be at least a week before our guest is strong enough in spirit to begin the long trek back to his den._

_ "As such, I have given consideration to another possibility for his welfare; that he longer becomes our guest."_

_ "What?" asked Shiro, rather rudely. "How can he no longer be our guest without going back?"_

_ "By joining the family. He will become your brother and my son. In a purely spiritual sense, that is."_

_ "Mother, are you sure?" growled Shiro. Contempt filled his elfin eyes as he looked at Henry. "The family may not accept him."_

_"__You__mean,_you_won__'__t__accept__him,__" __snapped__Noroi.__ "__You__just__hate__Men.__"_

_ "Children, please. If Henry decides to join us, then not even the Thousand-Armed One should stop him."_

_ Henry looked at the bundle. It was, once he picked it up, a coat. A long, flowing coat made of soft white feathers. He pulled it on. It felt surprisingly warm, and fitted perfectly._

_ "The Artisan created it for you," the mother explained. "There is no way to make you grow fur like our own, but this should help the family accept you."_

_ "Who is the Artisan?" asked Noroi._

_ "That is a secret I shall tell you when the time is right."_

_ They met in a larger cave, much higher up the mountain. It was easily an hour or so of tough, rugged climb, but the mother showed Henry how to traverse it. It was easy, really; his hands and bare feet seemed impervious to the sharp rocks he was expecting. It was though the coat infused him with their skill and vigour._

_ The family was huge; it soon transpired that there were many more than he had anticipated. There were uncles and aunts, grandparents and cousins. In the centre were a pair of the creatures. Both radiated age, wisdom and power. They were given wide berth by the milling family._

_ The moment that the mother, Henry, Noroi and Shiro entered the cave, silence fell like an executioner's axe. The pair in the centre fixed the stranger with imperious squints. The crowd parted to bid the newcomers passage._

_ "Yuki," said the large of the two, the one covered in battle-scars. He must be a sort of alpha male. "What is the meaning of this?"_

_ "Grandfather," said the mother (Henry guessed that her name was Yuki), dropping low, almost reverentially. Noroi and Shiro followed suit, and Henry decided to as well. If he wanted to join the family, he may as well honour their customs. Yuki rose to sit upright. "I have come with a request."_

_ "Go on."_

_ "On the Day of the Moon, I was told by my daughter of a grave misfortune; a Child of Man, dying in the snow. I dragged him into the cave, and we have been nursing him steadily to health."_

_ "I do not see what it is you request."_

_ "While the Child of Man has been recovering, my daughter Noroi has been teaching him our tongue. I feel that he may learn a great deal from our family. I request he become one with us, until the time that he must return to his own."_

_ The patriarch burst into laughter. "A Man-child? To walk as one of us? Let me see the Man!"_

_ Noroi nudged him, and Henry rose to a cat-like pose._

_ "Come forward," boomed the patriarch._

_ Henry walked forward, aware of dozens of red eyes staring at him on all sides. He seated himself in front the stone dais the pair sat on._

_ "You be the Child of Man?"_

_ "Yes," said Henry quietly. "Forgive me, but what shall I call you?"_

_ "Patriarch will do for now. Is Yuki's story true?"_

_ "It is, Patriarch."_

_ The patriarch bounded down, and was walking around Henry, analysing his muscle tone, and posture, and who knows what._

_ "You look feeble. Are you unwell?"_

_ "I do not understand, Patriarch."_

_ "Men are strong, powerful monsters. They carry sticks that kill on touch. They wield silver wands that deliver pain and death by mere willpower. But you are not like that. Why not?"_

_ "I never liked fighting much. I prefer books, Patriarch."_

_ "What are these books of which you speak? Another death-dealer?"_

_ "No, Patriarch. Books are wisdom given form. I crave only knowledge."_

_ "But I have dealt with men before. They lie, they deceive. How should I know that you will not grow to be the same?"_

_ Henry was unfazed. He indicated Yuki and Noroi. "They saved my life. Few would waste such effort on me, and I never forget kindness like that. I would never betray them, and if you extend your family to include me, then I would stretch that to accommodate all of you."_

_ "Then it is decided. I accept you into our family, on one condition."_

_ "What may that be, Patriarch?"_

_ "You may not return to the lands of Men. I still don't trust you."_

_ "Thank you, Patriarch. I shall honour your wishes."_

_ "So you're one of us now?" asked Shiro._

_ "No need to sound so disappointed, Shiro. The Patriarch has decided."_

_ "I think he's wrong. You are weak in body and in mind. You will never be one of us. And now we must put up with you forever!"_

_ "Shiro, pack it in!" chided Yuki. "Henry shall leave us when the time is right. Never mind what Grandfather says."_

_ "He does have a point, though," remarked Henry. "How do any of you know you can trust me? You only have my word to go on; what's to say I'm not lying?"_

_ Noroi stared at him. "We do not, as a people, trust easily. Especially not humans. But if we do trust, we would gladly die for them."_

_ "I'm glad that Grandfather accepted you. Now we can teach you our ways."_

_ "Thanks, Mother."_

_ Henry learned much by the family. He learned more than physical aspect of their life, the running and hunting, locating water and so on. He learned of the creatures' past, their mythology and their social rituals. He learned of things long forgotten by most Men. But soon, not even Yuki could pretend he was in no shape to return. His time had come. He had to return to his own family._

_ They left in the dead of night, three weeks after Henry had been discovered in the snow. "It will be a long trek to the place men call Canalave City, and we must hurry from the mountain."_

_ "It's OK, Mother," said Shiro, in a voice that only said that he would rather be in bed. "No-one saw us go."_

_ "Mother," said Noroi, "if we take a shortcut down the Canyon of Wind, it will only take only a day to reach the Sea-Vessels."_

_"_Only_a__day?__" __asked__Henry._

_ "The alternative is go the long way round the mountains. It will take at least twice as long."_

_ Henry shrugged inside his coat. "I say Canyon of Wind."_

_ It was a long hard slog. The mountainside was slippery with loose debris. Eventually, they saw the lights of a Man-dwelling. Several tall white flowers stood around it. Each was at least 30 feet tall._

_ "What are those, Mother?" asked Shiro._

_ "Those flowers are very special. They cannot easily be plucked or felled, and the heads spin in the wind. I do not know why or for what purpose, but they do look very pretty, winking and flashing as the light catches their petals."_

_ "They create electricity," explained Henry. "Men use it to make light and heat."_

_ "Do Men live nearby?"_

_ "We should be safe for a hour or so; the Men would be asleep at this time."_

_ It was not far to the Man-dwelling after that. The Flower Meadow, or Floaroma Town to Men, looked desolate and dull in the pre-dawn twilight. The houses looked oppressive and overlarge. Was that the result of his new life?_

_ "We must be quiet, Mother!" hissed Shiro, "The Men could spot us and attack!"_

_ "Shut up, Shiro," hissed Noroi back. "What, do you think every Man is a psychopathic, sadistic killer?"_

_ "Yes, as a matter of fact."_

_ "Henry's not a psychopathic, sadistic killer."_

_ "Say what you like, Man-lover."_

_ Noroi was shocked into silence. That was probably the worst insult he could have come up with. Yuki cuffed him round the ear._

_ "You say that again in front of me, my lad, and you won't live to regret it."_

_ "But she does!"_

_ "Whether she does or doesn't love Henry is none of our concern."_

_ "How far do you think we will get before sunrise?" asked Henry, to break up the argument._

_ "Not much further, but if we stick to forest cover, we should be able to reach the Concrete Jungle by midday. Then we should stick to back-alleys and shadows, but we can get to the Sea Gate by sunset."_

_ They managed to get to the Sea Gate early, but the hard part was to sneak on board a ship. Shiro had complained all the way from the Concrete Jungle; a Man there had seen him and threw a rock at him._

_ "How are we supposed to get to the other side of the town without getting seen?"_

_ Henry stared at the nearest houses. They weren't very far apart, and the window frames were excellent footholds._

_ "Like this," he said, and darted from the cover of the trees._

_ In the end, the walls of the houses were just like small mountains, and the roofs were high and flat. Henry scrambled up the wall, digging his fingers and toes into every crack and notch that came his way. It took him mere seconds to climb the wall and disappear from sight of the ground. No-one seemed to notice a seven-year-old child climb a vertical wall._

_ Yuki let out a low whistle. "He has learned well," she said, and hared off after him._

_ Shiro made a non-committal grunt, and he and Noroi followed their Mother up._

_ Henry said something to Yuki, who nodded. He turned to Noroi. "OK, we have to enter the cargo hold, so we have to go all the way over the rooftops, and across the bridge. Think you can handle that?"_

_ She nodded. Shiro grunted._

_ "Can you get there without getting hit by a rock, Shiro?"_

_ "Is that a challenge?" he spat, but he realised that Yuki, Noroi and Henry had already gone, leaping from rooftop to rooftop like stray comets. He groaned in frustration, and set off after them._

_ They were in luck; no-one realised their presence until they got to the bridge. It was at the north end of the town, and would split in two to let the Sea-Vessels by. But, for now, the halves were down, and Henry decided to risk going along at ground level. Noroi agreed._

_ "We'll look too conspicuous climbing on the cables."_

_ They were lucky once again; the Men were too preoccupied with themselves to notice the four of them. Henry moved quickly and quietly, returning to the rooftops on the other side. Yuki pointed to the south. "That is where we need to get on."_

_ Henry, Noroi and Shiro looked. There was a steel walkway linking the Sea-Vessel to the dock. A procession of people were making their way up it. Henry nodded and bounded over the rooftops._

_ "STOP!" shouted Yuki._

_ "What is it, Mother?"_

_ "There will be Men. Me, Noroi and Shiro will need to sneak past. We can't just charge around like mad things."_

_ Henry saw a pair of tough-looking sailors standing by the gangplank. "I've got a plan, Mother. I'll distract them, and you three sneak on board."_

_ "Henry," said Yuki, but she was too late. Henry had walked up to the sailors, rubbing himself on their legs like a Glameow._

_ "Hey, beat it!" shouted the sailor, picking Henry up and throwing him at a wall._

_ "Henry!" screamed Noroi, but Yuki cut her off._

_ "We must go!"_

_ They ran up the gangplank, causing panic as they ran through the crowd of Men._

_ "Monsters!"_

_ "It's the harbingers!"_

_ "We're doomed! Doomed, I say!"_

_ "Shiro, Noroi; wait out of sight! I'm going to get Henry!"_

_ Yuki turned and ran at the sailors. One was gripping the terrified boy by the shoulders and shaking him._

_ "What the hell do you think you're playing at, kid?"_

_ "Get your hands of my son!" shouted Yuki._

_ They couldn't understand her, but the one holding Henry screamed and dropped him as sharp fangs pierced his calf. Henry swung his hand at the other sailor. His fingernails hadn't been clipped for three weeks, and the resulting talons drew blood from the man's cheek._

_ Henry and Yuki ran for the boarding ramp, which grated on the concrete as the ship tried to set off. The crew were worried. If the passengers had seen the harbingers ..._

_ But they didn't realise that Henry, Yuki, Noroi and Shiro had already boarded. They were hiding behind some pipes in the cargo hold._

_ "It's so noisy in here! I wish we were back in the den!"_

_ "Is there anything you can do other than complain, Shiro?"_

_ "Henry, what are you doing?" asked Noroi. He seemed to be reading the Men-glyphs on a crate._

_ Henry looked back. "We are in luck. There is cargo bound for Hoenn. That is where we want to be."_

_ "How can you tell?"_

_ He pointed at a nearby crate. It was stamped with bizarre black runes._

_ "Those are the words of Men. They are unfamiliar to me, but I can vaguely read them. It says 'Caution: Biohazard Warning. Transport immediately to Slateport Shipyard, Hoenn'."_

_ "OK."_

_ Yuki looked at them. "What are you whispering about?"_

_ "I was saying that we are on the right boat."_

_ "Oh, fine."_

_ "I shall try and find some food. I know where a cafeteria would be."_

_ Yuki nodded. "You are the least conspicuous of us. But I feel you may need help regardless. You have a knack for attracting trouble."_

_ They returned alarmingly soon, carrying a large bag of food between them._

_ "This should last us the voyage."_

_ Even Shiro forgot to be grumpy. But in his opinion, the sooner they were shot of the Man-child, the better. Mother was right; he had a knack for attracting trouble._

_ All too soon, the four were lurking on the outskirts of Littleroot Town. Henry was vaguely upset; they had done so much for him. It would be a shame to leave, and he doubted he would ever see them again._

_ "Do not worry, my son. You will soon be home."_

_ "But it doesn't feel like home anymore," Henry replied, his voice wavering slightly._

_ "You cannot stay with us forever, Man-child," said Shiro. "You must return to the world you belong to."_

_ Henry pulled Yuki into an awkward hug. "Will I ever see you again, Mother?"_

_ "I hope so, Henry. But I am no longer your Mother."_

_ "In a purely spiritual sense, that is."_

_ Yuki smiled. "You have a long memory, child. You will always remember."_

_ Henry's front door stood before them; solid, implacable and hostile compared to the carefree openness of the den. Henry felt nervous. He had been missing for three weeks. He had seen the posters. What would his family think? But it was too late; Yuki had reared onto her hind legs, pushing the doorbell with a single talon._

_ A light clicked on in the kitchen. The click of the lock. The creak of the old door. A tired, stressed face in the door._

_ Henry tried to say 'Hello, Dad', but the Men-speak stuck in his throat, like a bitter pill. His father's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the creatures. He reached for something behind the door. It was only when he saw it that Henry did remember._

_ Everyone in Hoenn kept some sort of weapon near the door, in the event of dangerous Pokémon entering civilised areas. The incursions had been growing more and more frequent recently. Henry's father levelled the hunting-rifle at Yuki._

_ "Dad, NO!"_

_ But it was too late. He was always too late. The first bullet lodged in Yuki's chest and she collapsed, breathing raggedly. The second punched through Shiro's skull and he crumpled to a heap, this time completely still._

_ Barry Parkinson reloaded the rifle. These damned harbingers meant nothing but trouble. As if he didn't have enough to worry about. He aimed at the third harbinger, but that strange thing was in his way, shouting in a language he didn't care about. It was the tongue of the harbingers, and that was all he cared about. The third harbinger hid behind that other thing, sobbing with fear._

_ "I don't know what you are, but stand aside."_

_ "No." said Henry, in Men-speak. The hatred could have toppled a building._

_ Barry froze. His wife would come running soon, alerted by the gunshots. But that voice was one he had been longing to hear._

_ "Henry?"_

_ "It's me, Dad. I'm home."_

_ "Henry, stand aside. That thing will kill you."_

_ "She's not the one pointing a gun at me. She didn't just kill in cold blood."_

_ "That thing is a monster!"_

_ "Noroi is not a monster. You are the monster."_

_ "What's going on down here?" asked Henry's birth-mother, coming to the front door. She took one look at Henry, then the rifle._

_ Henry took advantage of the confusion. He lurched forwards, grabbing the rifle in his jaws, wrenching it from his father's hands and tossed it into the trees._

_ "Dad, do not kill her. Noroi has been good to me; she deserves to live."_

_ Barry, caught at the sharp end of Henry's anger with no defence, agreed. Henry turned to Yuki._

_ "My son," she croaked. "Look after your sister. She will need you."_

_ Henry opened his mouth to respond, but once more Fate was cruel, and the fragile butterfly of life left Yuki's body in a sickly death-rattle. On her last breath was a single word so light that nobody actually heard it. Henry buried his face in her soft fur, and wailed like a banshee. Crying for what he had lost. Crying for the harsh realisation of her death._

_ Noroi joined him in mourning, but he could barely perceive her, grieving and sobbing into his shoulder. He belonged to a void; the half-world between a human and an Absol._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Now you know of how Henry met Noroi the Absol. It is essential you know this, as it will reveal much of the secrets that revolve around the pair. R&amp;R, peeps!<strong>_


	6. At Home With Henry

_**Now we carry on with the story I have started to tell. I hope I have not lost you yet.**_

* * *

><p>Henry swiped the key-card in the slot beside the door. There was a faint buzz, and the clicks of at least three locks, before the door swung smoothly open. At least, it slid into the wall, with such a sci-fi <em>whoosh<em> that it was almost comical.

"Pretty secure," said Flannery, with a whistle. Last time she had arrived, the way she came in was via the fire escape.

"Welcome home, Henry, Absol and Flannery," said a cool, computer-generated voice.

"Whassup?" said Dug, leaning over the back of the sofa. Flannery jumped out her skin.

"Stop doing that!"

"Oh, Henry. Word of advice. Sort out your security systems."

Henry gave Dug a hard stare. "How did you get in?"

"The bathroom window."

Absol checked it. "This is ... a foot square."

"I have contacts."

"On the fifth floor?"

"Like I said."

"How much of my life have you stolen so far?" asked Flannery.

Dug consulted his arm-mounted computer. "Altogether, nineteen years, eleven months, sixteen days, one hour and thirty-eight minutes. And fifty-four seconds."

191116013854. Incidentally, this is Flannery's Pokénav ID. This knowledge also did little to improve her mood.

Absol shook her head. She didn't think it was worth asking what these contacts were. There was a disproportionately loud crash from the kitchen.

"Oh ..." came an artificial voice, before there was another convenient racket as what sounded like the entire contents of all the kitchen cupboards fell. A saucepan shuffled out suspiciously. Absol picked it up. There was nothing underneath. She flipped it over and inside was Dug's Porygon, chirruping happily.

"What were you doing in the kitchen?"

Porygon said nothing, but hopped out of the saucepan and hovered over to Dug. Absol sighed. Nice of it to tidy up.

"While I'm clearing up the kitchen, does anyone want a drink?"

"I'll have the usual," said Dug at once.

"What, white coffee with so much sugar you can't move the spoon?"

"Absol, stop it. You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know. I just said it."

"I'll have a Diet Coke," said Flannery.

"Water," said Henry, re-organising the coffee table.

"Boring enough," said Absol before retreating to the kitchen.

"It would be nice, Dug," tutted Henry, "if you gave us some warning next time you decide to grace my apartment with your appearance. I'm not sure you noticed, but there are dozens of laser tripwires in here, and only I have the disengaging key. I even specifically programmed it to make it impossible to replicate the code. Remember?"

"I know what I invented, Henry. Relax!"

"You could have set off at least twenty silent alarms."

"Henry, chill. Sometimes, I worry about what could possibly be in this apartment that would drive you to use the security measures of a large bank vault. And by the way, I got Blaziken to make sufficient amounts of steam to reveal the trips."

Henry smiled. "Very well. I'll sort that out for the next intruder."

"I'm not an intruder; you know me."

"I didn't know you were here, QED you were an intruder."

A loud crashing sound from the kitchen indicated that Absol was struggling to return all the pots and pans to their cupboards.

"Forgive my lack of hospitality; I'm going to help Absol clear up."

Henry entered the kitchen. Absol was putting up a valiant effort to tidy the kitchen, albeit accompanied by the occasional bout of swearing in her own tongue.

"Need any help?" asked Henry, in Absol-tongue.

"I'm fine, Henry. Why don't you make the drinks?"

"You're not fine. You're having bad dreams again."

There was no use denying it; that would only make him worry more. "I don't want to talk about it. I just want to forget them."

"Dreams come to us for a reason. You never talk about them, so I can't help you."

Absol put down the pots she was carrying. Henry saw that tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

He walked forward, and was almost bowled over when she flung herself at him like a drowning person. Henry always felt awkward comforting people, even Absol, but he folded his long arms around her back. Absol sobbed into his shoulder.

"I want her back, Henry. I want Mother back."

"I know."

"What's going on in here?" asked Dug, lobbing his head round the doorway.

"She's a bit upset," mouthed Henry.

Dug backed off.

Absol felt safe in Henry's arms. It was as though he was her guardian angel, and not the other way round. She sniffed and mumbled something.

"Absol, it's not your fault."

She felt as though her nightmares were gently trickling away. A smile came to Absol's mouth.

"I don't know what you did, but thank you." But then another flicker of doubt shunted that warm, glowing feeling aside. "I nearly killed that man this morning."

"I'm here to stop you."

"But I wanted to kill him."

"He wanted to kill you. The feeling is justified. But you need to be restrained sometimes."

Absol mumbled in acknowledgement, and melted into his arms.

"Now let's sort out those drinks before our guests tear the place down."

After the drinks were all served, Henry dragged out a large leather case from under the coffee table.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" asked Flannery, suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it's not a machine gun." Henry opened the case and revealed a bass guitar. It was as much an instrument as a work of art; long and sleek, and was a bloodied, magma-red hue. A deep blue pattern spread from the pickups to the bottom, in the form of the M of his right earring. Bleached, foot-long talons sprouted from the tips, and another about halfway up the body of the guitar. The whole thing was designed to look like a paw of the Behemoth of Hoenn legend, Groudon.

"I've got to practise for tonight."

"That reminds me," said Dug. "Have you reminded Toby?"

"No," Henry replied, tossing his Pokénav to Absol. She tapped in Toby's ID.

"Hi, this is Toby. What do you want?"

"This is Absol speaking."

"Who?"

"Henry asked to contact you."

"Oh, _that_ $&%£#."

"I bet you wouldn't like me to tell Mum you speak like that."

"What do you want, demon? I don't want to have anything to do with you."

"Henry wants to remind you about tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. I'll be there, OK? What does it ... wait, you're not coming, are you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Speak to me like that again and I'll kick your ass all the way to Sinnoh."

"All of a sudden, I've decided I'm too ill to turn up."

Dug wrenched the Pokénav from Absol's paw. "Listen, here, you ungrateful stupid bastard! If you're too ill turn up, I'll give you a slice of cake; A SLICE OF MY EXTRA SPECIAL _PAINCAKE_, with an extra layer of agony! Me and Henry went to a lot of bother to invite you in, so you'll show up, or you'll get the sharp end of my Porygon! Got that?"

It was a little while before Toby responded. Absol heard him gulp. "I've changed my mind again; I would _looooooove_ to come."

"Damn straight!" snapped Dug, shutting the link.

Absol was stunned. "In the name of Arceus, I've never seen you rant like that before!"

"Thanks," said Dug, seemingly calm.

Henry, oblivious to this, was playing the bass all through the argument.


	7. The Musical Chapter With No Real Plot

The _Leviathan_ was easily the classiest nightclub in Hoenn. Situated pretty much on Slateport Beach, it offered a relaxed and carefree atmosphere to its patrons. Everybody in the city, it seemed, was turning up for the gig that night from the rising stars in the Hoenn music business; 'Titanica'. No-one could say they had ever really heard of the band, but they were paying good money to hear them, so they had better be good.

In the dressing-room just behind the stage, three figures sat, limbering up for the evening's performance. Henry was sitting on the chair in the corner, wearing a blood-red blazer and tuning his bass for the fifteenth time. He frowned in concentration as he strummed a few chords.

Dug was lounging on the sofa, drinking something non-Diet. He alone seemed relaxed about the next few hours. He wore a blue, flowing cape and red-framed glasses for the occasion, and was finishing on buffing the glossy paintjob on his guitar. His lead guitar was also a special order, but his was rounder than Henry's bass, and marine-blue with red detailing (the lines were really fibre-optic tubes, and would glow red when it was plugged in) in an A-shape. Four square claws poked from the end. It was designed along the lines of the fins of Kyogre, Leviathan of legend, from which the club took its name.

The last band member was younger than Henry or Dug, and the only one who actually looked as though he would rather be somewhere else. Toby Parkinson, Henry and Dug's 16-year-old brother, was the drummer for the band. He was small and skinny for his age, but don't be fooled by appearances; Henry had seen him take out much larger men with his whirling drumsticks of doom. His hair was messy, and his eyes watery-blue. He wore his trademark black t-shirt, and jeans that were too long for his legs and so the heels were absolutely shredded. He kept fidgeting, as though he would rather be beating the drums to oblivion like a slave-driver than sitting here waiting.

"Henry! Little help please!" called Absol from the next room. Henry set his guitar down, and walked into the second dressing-room.

Being the only female member of Titanica, Absol got a dressing-room to herself. It didn't take long to see what was wrong; Absol was struggling to fasten up her outfit.

Absol had, for the gig, been given a special outfit. The creation was a work of art; a long, flowing gothic-bridal gown, fashioned from lightweight white silk and emerald green trimming. Henry had also threaded green ribbons into her hair. Miniscule emeralds and moonstones shimmered when she moved. The downside was that it required tying up at the back, which Absol could barely do on the best of days.

"You've left it a bit fine," said Henry, in Absol-speak. "It's only ten minutes until the curtains go up."

"Stop nagging," she laughed. "I've rehearsed already. I just can't tie this gown up."

Henry walked round, and his nimble fingers did the job in twenty seconds. He tied a wide green belt around her waist, and straightened the veil, then stood back to admire the effect. The Pokémon looked stunning; the gems winked like little green and white stars, and the golden embroidery on the belt glistened in the dim, artificial light of the dressing-room, with a stylised version of the tattoo on Henry's cheek standing out vividly. Between them, Henry, Dug and Absol formed the trinity of Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. Toby's drumkit would represent humankind.

"How do I look?" asked Absol, doing a pirouette.

"Amazing."

"Guys! We're on!" called Dug.

The heavy stage curtains lifted slowly. The darkness was lit vaguely by banks of white lights at the back of the stage. A single, white figure laid on a piano at the left-hand side of the stage, as though lying on a sacrificial altar. A thin veil had been drawn over its face.

Far above, in the uppermost stands, people noticed a man in a red blazer leaping from spotlight-brackets and balcony railings. It was moving with such agility it was difficult to see. It swung from a light-bracket, and grabbed a rope hanging at the side of the stage. It slid down, then bounded into the piano seat with practised ease. Dry ice rolled across the stage.

The pianist began to play; a slow, crisp riff. The figure on top of the piano sat up, holding a mic in its hands (though no-one could actually see them due to the long sleeves of the gown).

"_How can you see into my eyes like open doors?"_

A guitar faintly rang out, almost smothered by the piano.

_"Leading you down into my core,_

_ Where I've become so numb ..."_

Spotlights flooded the stage. Two more people came on stage; one tall with a blue cloak with a guitar, and a shorter one who seated himself behind the drum kit. The drummer started beating the drums with a violence that bordered on insanity, while the guitarist rained heavy chords into the crowd. The singer slid off the piano.

_"Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold,  
>Until you find it there and lead it back home."<em>

The singer lifted the veil, revealing a black, furry face with large red eyes. Power chords exploded like thunder from the lead guitar, reverberating through the audience and shaking one man's dentures out.  
><em><br>"__Wake me up,__" _sang the pianist, through a vocoder over his mouth.  
><em> "Wake me up inside!"<br>"__I can't wake up __…__"  
>"Wake me up inside!"<br>"__Save me!__"  
>"Call my name and save me from the dark!"<br>"__Wake me up __…__"  
>"Bid my blood to run!"<br>"__I can't wake up __…__"  
>"Before I come undone!"<br>"__Save me!__"  
>"Save me from the nothing I've become!"<em>

"Now that I know what I'm without

_ You can't just leave me.  
>Breathe into me and make me real;<br>Bring me to life …"_

"Wake me up …"  
>"Wake me up inside!"<br>"I can't wake up …"  
>"Wake me up inside!"<br>"Save me!"  
>"Call my name and save me from the dark!"<br>"Wake me up …"  
>"Bid my blood to run!"<br>"I can't wake up …"  
>"Before I come undone!"<br>"Save me!"  
>"Save me from the nothing I've become!<p>

_ Bring me to life …"  
>"I've been living a lie,<br>There's nothing inside …"  
>"Bring me to life …"<em>

"Frozen inside without your touch,  
>Without your love, darling!<br>Only you are the life among the dead!"

"All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see;  
>Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me,"<br>"I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems,  
>Got to open my eyes to everything!"<br>"Without thought, without voice, without a soul …"  
>"Don't let me die here …"<br>"There must be something more!"  
>"BRING ME TO LIFE!"<p>

"Wake me up …"  
>"Wake me up inside!"<br>"I can't wake up …"  
>"Wake me up inside!"<br>"Save me!"  
>"Call my name and save me from the dark!"<br>"Wake me up …"  
>"Bid my blood to run!"<br>"I can't wake up …"  
>"Before I come undone!"<br>"Save me!"  
>"Save me from the nothing I've become!<p>

_ Bring me to life …"  
>"I've been living a lie,<br>There's nothing inside!"  
>"Bring me to life!"<em>

"You want more?" yelled Absol to the crowd.

The crowd screamed with approval.

"Well, tough; we're going home now!"

She turned away as the audience piped up in outrage. She turned to face them again.

"Just joking; we're bringing the house down!"

The audience burst into fits of laughter. Absol had that effect on people. Douglas let rip on a heavy riff, Henry picked up his bass, and Titanica played into the night.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lol absol's such a troll. Gratuitous musical episode much? Reviews please!<strong>_


	8. The AfterParty aka How Not To Drink

It was much later that evening that they finally managed to get off stage long enough to avoid another encore. Toby was still shaking violently, pounding away at invisible drums. In fact, he would probably still be sitting at his drum kit if Henry and Dug hadn't physical dragged him offstage. He actually broke away at one point, but only had time to belt two drums and a cymbal before Henry, Dug, Cradily and Blaziken dragged him back again. Henry had sustained a black eye from a whirling drumstick, but they managed to manhandle him into a seat in the changing rooms. Absol was mixing up something in a cocktail shaker.

"Do you reckon we gave them enough?" asked Dug.

"Don't even think of it. We only did three hours, and even then, that's not including encores," Henry retorted.

Toby hammered away at an imaginary drum fill section to Bleed It Out. His eyes snapped open suddenly.

"How long have I been here?" he asked.

"About twenty-three minutes," said Absol, shaking the cocktail violently. "There's some Dr Pepper Zero in the fridge, by the way."

Toby went over to the meagre fridge. Sure enough, there was a six-pack of Dr Pepper Zero on the top shelf, but there was little else.

"What's the worst that can happen, eh?" he said to himself.

Absol poured the cocktail into three glass tumblers. It was a strange mixture of colours; inky black, with green, blue and red flecks in it.

"If I didn't know better than to say it," said Dug, "I would say you've made Octillery ink."

Absol scowled. "It's a cocktail of Liechi, Ganlon, Salac and Enigma Berries. Very spicy, very sweet, and guaranteed to knock you on your ass."

Henry dropped an ice cube into each. It should be impossible for black to glow, but it did, as though stars had been added. "Don't worry, Dug; it's not poisonous. It's actually very nice, but the first is always the hardest to choke down."

"Choke?"

"You'll see what he means," said Absol, sliding a glass to Dug, and another to Henry.

"Hey!" piped up Toby. "How come I don't get one?"

"You're underage, Tobs," replied Absol, raising her glass. "To success."

Henry and Dug toasted and swallowed. Henry grimaced as he swallowed. The drink with incredibly spicy; it was like swallowing a small supernova, but it stuck to the inside of your mouth like tar. Dug swallowed his down with an effort worthy of the titans of legend. He reeled back as though punched, falling backwards off his chair. Absol started giggling like a little girl as the alcohol overrode her systems. Henry stood up shakily and walked over to help Dug up.

"You all right?"

"I think so," he said. "That stuff is CRAZY!"

"I know."

"Hey, boys," said Absol through a bout of giggles. "Smile for the camera!"

Henry looked at Toby. He was holding his Pokénav up at them. There was only one thing he could have been doing.

Henry stuck out his arm. A thin, whip-like lilac tentacle shot out from beneath the flesh, swiping the Pokénav from Toby and drawing it back to Henry. Henry tapped a few buttons on the touch panel, and the video was deleted. He threw the Pokénav back to Toby.

Toby didn't catch it. He just sat there, stiff with shock. "What the hell was that?"

"Nothing."

"A tentacle just came out of your wrist, and …"

"… And think how stupid that will sound to anyone you tell."

Toby looked as though he was about to argue, but that tiny voice of reason in the dusty back room in his mind told him that Henry was right. Dug chugged down another of the explosive cocktails. He remained on his seat this time, but looked as though another might finish him off. Henry obviously noticed, as he shot out his tentacle again, grabbed the shaker, and tipped it down the sink. An acid hiss and copious amounts of black smoke flowed from the sink.

"What was I saying again?" asked Absol, hiccupping. The alcohol was powerful, but it wore off quickly.

"Nothing. Unless you count incessant giggling."

"Oh, nothing important, then?"

"Not really," said Henry, resisting the urge to laugh at Toby's expression.


	9. Galactic Ambitions

Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long since the last update, but I've been busy with schoolwork and another project that should have been finished months ago, which I shall be putting up in due course, so stay tuned.

The last chapter? All of of the songs ... let's just say it might be wise to keep them in mind. Stay tuned for more Pokemonage!

* * *

><p>BOOK 2 - DOOM-CALLER<p>

_ It is midnight in Sinnoh. A faint, cold drizzle is falling, despite the summer heat. A single figure raps on the glass doors of the huge building in the north of Veilstone City. The bright, warm interior of the building beckons to her, as though taunting the sodden person._

_ There is a buzz, almost imperceptible in the hiss of the building rain._

_ "State your business," crackles the voice of an unseen person inside._

_ "Access code Gamma," spits the figure, starting to shiver in their uniform._

_ "Welcome home, Jupiter," says the voice coolly, as the doors slide open. The person slips through the doors. A man in a white jumpsuit and a green bowl-cut sits behind a desk to the right of the doors, just out of sight from the outside world. The Grunt rifles through some papers._

_ "Enjoy your little break, did you?" asks the receptionist sarcastically. "Nobody turns their back on us."_

_ "I never turned away," spits Jupiter in a contemptuous tone. She is a very tall woman; her pinkish-purple hair drawn into a bizarre pair of ponytails on the back of her head, deep violet eyes and a perpetual sneering expression due to some obscure genetic quirk, or something like that. Her jumpsuit was more elaborate than the Grunts'; surgically clean white rubber with dark grey shoulders and arms, and one of legs replaced with a strange grey rubber garter. She also wore tall white leather boots. That was a year ago. Now, the uniform is scuffed and scraped, and absolutely covered in dirt. Her hair is unkempt, but it seemed she had put up a valiant effort to keep it tidy._

_ "Didn't look like that to us. You buggered off, without any notice, with that Mars kid."_

_ "That Mars kid, I'll have you know, is one of your damned Commanders, and you will do well to remember that!"_

_ The grunt shakes his head. "Not anymore; like I said, you turned away. Master Saturn has led us to great heights this last year."_

_ "Master Saturn?" chokes Jupiter. "How did that idiot get to be Master? What about Master Cyrus?"_

_ The grunt looks offended. "Well, Cyrus disappeared, you and Mars quit, and Charon got arrested by that policeman who was snooping around," he says facetiously, counting them off his fingers._

_ "I'll take it from here, Grunt Smith," says a man coming out of the lift. Jupiter takes one look at him and grunts in displeasure._

_ "Nice to see you again, too," he says, motioning her to follow him into the lift. Jupiter is about to complain, but then she remembers that, officially, she isn't one of them anymore. She enters the lift, refusing to look at him._

_ The lift is fast and smooth, but she misses the old warp panels. The place truly is going to the dogs. It settles at the top floor with an absent-minded ping. The doors slide open noiselessly, and the pair step into the dark office. Arc lights flicker on, revealing the spartan office that is almost exactly as she remembered. Well, almost. The room used to give off a vibe of purpose, of determination, of perseverance. Now it feels as boring as any businessman's office. She sighs._

_ "And what brings you to my headquarters, Jupiter? I take it you aren't here to reminisce the good old days."_

_ She stares at the man. His hair and eyes are dark blue, the hair sweeping back into two points, as though his head was a twin-tailed comet. He wears a white leather jacket and grey leather trousers; exactly the same boring uniform as last year. His name is Saturn, and he is the new Master of Team Galactic._

_ "This isn't your headquarters, Saturn. This is Master Cyrus' headquarters."_

_ Saturn chuckles hollowly, pouring coffee from a thermos flask. "For a week or two, I felt the same. I rallied the remaining Grunts, desperate to keep the morale up. 'Do not desert us,' I said, 'Master Cyrus will return with the great prize that will take us to the stars.' But they were disheartened, so I tried to hold them together. Next thing I know, they prefer me over Cyrus."_

_ "Mars found Cyrus, by the way. Not like you care."_

_ "Did he find what he was looking for?"_

_ "No, and neither did Mars."_

_ "But you said ..."_

_ "Ask her, if I can persuade her to return."_

_ Two people, a man and a woman, appear at the door, gripping a half-conscious tramp by the arms._

_ "We found him, Master Saturn," barks the man. His voice has barely cracked. "He was hanging out on the Radio Tower rooftop."_

_ "Thank you," says Saturn._

_ The woman looks at Jupiter, barely suppressing a leer. Her hair is long and wavy, and a strong peachy-orange colour. She looks beautiful, but overly so, until the effect was unnerving, like a catwalk model. Her eyes are a vivid green, and surrounded by way too much black eye-liner, as though she feels she needed it, but not sure how much one should put on. She wears a white rubber chemise and over-tight gray skinny jeans, and high-heeled boots._

_ The man has a quick, agile build. He still wears the green hair of a Grunt, but it is scraped into a long spike at the base of his skull. His eyes are steely grey, and he wears a jacket similar to Saturn's, but with shorts that accentuate his skinny athletic legs. He is wearing _trainers_. Jupiter shudders in disgust. No-one in Team Galactic was allowed to wear _trainers_ in her day._

_ Saturn mistakes her disapproval for confusion. "Since you and Mars disappeared, I needed some new Commanders to keep the Grunts in check. This is Mercury," he says, indicating the man, "and Venus," indicating the woman. She tosses her hair in the irritating manner of a model in a shampoo advert, and pretends to be incredibly interested in her orange, manicured nails._

_ "Bit young, isn't he?" she asks, pointing at Mercury. "I didn't realise we allowed babies in."_

_ Mercury growled in rage._

_ "Mercury is young, but he's very bright and keen. He's very handy in blitz raids; very fast, you see?"_

_ "How old is he, anyway?"_

_ "Seventeen. Just because you're thirty ..."_

_ "I'm twenty-nine, actually," snaps Jupiter._

_ " ... doesn't mean we can't set our sights a bit lower."_

_ "If he fails an assignment, what do you do? Change his diapers or something?"_

_ This jibe did it for Mercury. He yells and launches himself at Jupiter. That is his mistake; his low body weight means he wouldn't be much good in a straight fight anyway. Jupiter grabs his shoulders, kicks him somewhere very painful, and throws him to one side, where he lays, moaning weakly. It is a method of emergency measures that Cyrus had taught her, should it be impossible to take something with Pokémon battling._

_ "Jupiter, you are only here with my permission. If you are going to be disrespectful to my staff, I'll have to throw you out."_

_ "Master Saturn, I would just throw her out now," pipes up Venus in the sickly sweet voice of someone trying to get there own way._

_ "No," Saturn says firmly. "You two may leave us now."_

_ Mercury gets to his feet, salutes, and leaves. Venus pouts and follows suit._

_ Saturn turns to Jupiter. "Tell me about Cyrus."_

_ Two humans scrambled through the twisted wreckage of what was supposed to be Veilstone. The physics of the material universe did not apply to this strange new reality, and the buildings were warped and distorted beyond recognition. They were the only life in here._

_ One was Jupiter herself. Jupiter's companion, Mars, was shorter and younger, with burning red hair that was even more disorganised than Jupiter's. Her eyes flashed red in the light. She wore a stiff white rubber dress with grey sleeves and trousers. Her boots were also tall and white. A large yellow G was emblazoned on her back. Her softened, rounded face contrasted the sharp, shrewd features of her partner, and her jaw was set with determination. She came to this sick parody of reality for one thing, and she will not leave without it._

_ Jupiter shoved Mars suddenly into a doorway of a nearby building, clamping a hand over her colleague's mouth. A thick, grey, serpentine form flew lazily up the street where they were standing moments before. It was almost 20' long, with six smoky black appendages flowing from its back, each tipped with a sharp, red, crystalline spike. They seemed to be rudimentary wings, though it did not seem to need them, floating around as though gravity was something that happened to other creatures. Its face was framed by gold fins, closing over its jaws like a crash helmet. Its eyes were as red as Mars' hair, and it never seemed to need to blink. It had six stubby legs, near the end of its massive body. Each had a single golden talon as long as Mars' arm. And it was very territorial._

_ It flew past, and Jupiter signalled the all-clear. Mars stepped from the cover, looking in the bruised blue-purple sky for the serpent._

_ Jupiter spotted her. "Mars, what're you ..?"_

_ "HEY, YOU!" yelled Mars, looking at a shadowy form in the distance. The form turned what was presumably its head, though it was hard to tell. It could have been right in front of them, but it could have been miles away. Distance is just a measure of space, and space seemed to be on a permanent summer holiday from that hell-hole. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH CYRUS?"_

_ "Mars, don't aggravate it!" Jupiter hissed._

_ "WHERE IS HE?" screamed Mars, oblivious to Jupiter's comment._

_ A screech like nothing that could be explained by the laws of sound rent the sky. It was almost a solid object, clubbing the breath from Mars' lungs. It sounded horribly like a hunting cry._

_ Jupiter slapped Mars hard in the face. "Run like hell!" she yelled at the dazed woman. Mars got the hint. They ran as fast as the weird world would permit them; sometimes Torkoal pace, sometimes fast to the point of ludicrous. But the monster was almost immediately behind them. Mars screamed as she tripped on a rock. Jupiter turned. It was hovering right in front of Mars, trying to work out whether she was a threat. Mars was lying back, propped up on her elbows, paralysed with terror. Its huge face was a foot from hers. Its eyes were easily the size of her whole head. It opened its head-fins, revealing a horny beak that was more than big enough to swallow her whole. It screeched again, almost deafening Mars. She started mumbling and whimpering under her breath. Her trousers suddenly felt uncomfortably clammy. She shut her eyes, facing away from the monster, and screamed._

_ Jupiter picked up a rock and threw it at the rearing creature. "Hey!" she yelled. "Leave her alone!"_

_ Whether or not it noticed the rock, it heard her shout, and saw her, waving her arms and shouting. Its unfathomable logic told it that this new target was considerably better than the terrified wreck lying in front of it. It flew at Jupiter, following the purple hair like a beacon._

_ Mars opened one eye. Realising that the creature was no longer interested in her, she legged it, putting as much distance between her and the monster._

_ "Mars!" Jupiter yelled, but Mars didn't seem to hear. She swore under her breath and ran, the monster hot on her heels. She ran through twisting streets and impossible alleys, the creature's screeches ringing in her ears. She ducked under a table of an abandoned restaurant, and prayed to every god she could think of that it wouldn't find her. Its head appeared feet away, scanning the alley, but thankfully it didn't notice her. She didn't dare to move, or even breathe. It flew off, bellowing in annoyance at being cheated of its prize._

_ Jupiter found Mars at what was supposed to be Galactic Headquarters. She seemed to be crying._

_ " ... Cyrus, please! Come back! We need you!"_

_ "I don't care," spat a male voice._

_ Jupiter entered the room. Mars was kneeling on the ground, pleading as though about to be executed. A man stood with his back to her, arms folded behind his back, and staring out of a smashed window at the monster in the distance._

_ "Master Cyrus, Team Galactic can still be great! We can still create our new universe, and you can be our glorious leader!"_

_ Cyrus chuckled and shook his head. His blue spiky hair still seemed to have retained some kind of organisation, unlike Mars and Jupiter's. "And why would I want to endure another world with you in it?"_

_ Fat tears rolled down Mars' filthy cheeks, smacking as they bounced of her rubber uniform. "I don't understand, Master ..."_

_ "No, you're right there, actually." He turned face her, crouching down to her eye-level. "I have never told anyone about the true extent of my plans, except that annoying brat who then went on to ruin all my hopes." His face was devoid of emotion, no humanity left in his eyes._

_ "The t-true extent?" gasped Mars. Cyrus was no longer the passionate and inspiring leader she knew. Something had drained him; all that was left was an empty husk._

_ "It is true that I wanted to create a new universe. But you were so fanatical you never asked who for."_

_ Mars flushed. "For Team Galactic, to be ruled by you, with me at your side!"_

_ "No," he said. "Not for Team Galactic. For me, and me alone. Humanity has ruined our own universe, so I would create a new one, only for me."_

_ "No, Master!" wailed Mars, clinging to his leg as he tried to walk away. "You need us! You need me!"_

_ Cyrus kicked her off. Mars yelped like a puppy. "Like I said; why would I want to waste my life with you? You're pathetic, the lot of you." He saw Jupiter hovering uncertainly near the door. "Do with her as you will," he said curtly, before leaving._

_ "CYRUS! COME BACK!" screamed Mars, before she started crying again. Jupiter walked up to her, but received a look of purest venom._

_ "Leave me alone, Jupiter! Just because you were never his favourite!"_

_ Jupiter shook her head sadly, and left the room as well._

_ "See you around, Mars."_

_ Mars curled up in a ball, and whispered "Cyrus," before crying herself to sleep._

_ "That seems a little harsh," says Saturn, "Even for Cyrus."_

_ "Cyrus wanted a perfect world; one without emotion or spirit. He exploited us to reach it."_

_ "And Mars?"_

_ "I think she just idolised Cyrus. Maybe she had a crush on him, but I don't know. She was pretty damn cut up about it all when he admitted his plan."_

_ "We all idolised Cyrus. It was why we chose Team Galactic. But those days are past; now our goals are to work more subtly towards a perfect world."_

_ "So where does he come into it all?" spits Jupiter, glancing at the stirring tramp._

_ "That's one of our mercenaries. The Pest Controller."_

_ "What does he do towards creating a perfect world, beg for funding?"_

_ "The whole tramp thing is a disguise, to help him blend in. No-one notices a tramp, so it's perfect for under-the-table dealings and his main objective."_

_ "Which is?" says Jupiter, genuinely interested._

_ "He has been cleansing the human and Pokémon race of mutants. Hence, the Pest Controller."_

_ Jupiter lets out an appreciative whistle. "You really did think of everything with him, didn't you? Racial cleansing, eh?"_

_ "Let's just say I get it from my Master."_

_ "So is it just mutants?"_

_ "He also does vagrants, illegal immigrants, fraudsters, con artists and thieves."_

_ "Risky, considering we were once thieves ourselves."_

_ Saturn waves this away. "He's been borrowing my Toxicroak. And he's turned out a one hundred percent success rate."_

_The Pest Controller lets out a little cough, but not little enough for Jupiter not to hear._

_ "You have something to say?" she adds venomously._

_ He blanches. "Err ... well, about that ... um ... not quite ... one hundred percent. And that ... err ... Toxicroak ..." He trails off, turning his hat in his hands._

_ "What do you mean, not quite one hundred percent?" says Saturn in a dangerous tone._

_ "Well, err ... one subject did ... err ... get away ..."_

_ "Which ... one?"_

_ "That ... err ... Absol ... in Rustboro City."_

_ Saturn's expression turns icy. "You assured me it would be an easy job."_

_ "Err ..."_

_ "Stop mumbling, man!"_

_ "Well, I got the Absol done in, like you said. I was watching her, to make sure, like. But then he must have heard, 'cos he came running. He took her to the Pokémon Centre, so I guessed he was looking for SecretPotion. I Teleported to Cianwood City, and sold his brother some phoney SecretPotion. He must have noticed it was fake, 'cos next time I was in Johto, I got nabbed by his brother. He dragged me to the Radio Tower, and I saw that the mutant was still alive. She threatened to, like, do me in or something, and it killed your Toxicroak."_

_ "Who is this you are talking about?" asks Jupiter, confused._

_ Saturn reaches for a manila folder on his desk. In it is an eighty-page report on someone she has never heard of. A passport-like photo is stapled to the first page, showing a gaunt young man with long, green hair. Ruby and sapphire sigils hang from his elfin ears._

_ "This is Henry Parkinson. He may not look like much, but don't let that fool you. He is, quite frankly, a genius. He's an eighteen-year-old high school student, good grades, applying for Rustboro University of Natural Sciences. He did a lot of work a couple of years ago with Devon Corp. on fossil resurrection, and he's also worked in the fields of Pokéballs, medicines, Pokémon psychotherapy, the full works. He's also bassist and pianist in a popular band, as well as one of the vocalists."_

_ "So why is he of interest to Galactic?"_

_ "Here's the juicy bit. He's recently been working on Pokémon mutation and shadowforming. It seems that he's discovered some of Team Cipher's old work on the XD Project."_

_ "You want him to work for us, don't you?"_

_ "He seems to have developed a hopeless case of Do-Gooder Syndrome; he wants to use his research for the good of the world. What I'm hoping for is to steal his research, and finish off what he started, for the good of our world."_

_ "So what's the Pest Controller doing with an Absol?"_

_ Saturn flips to page forty-seven. Another photo is stapled to the page. It seems to be a snapshot from a CCTV system; a slightly grainy shot of a woman with a black face and snow-white fur, arm-in-arm with Henry._

_ "This is his Absol. According to our sources, he seemed to get it from nowhere; one morning, he just seemed to have got the Pokémon. She seems to be his research assistant in his latest project. She must in some way have an item that anthropomorphised her, but appears to suffer no ill effects, and she certainly seems to have prodigious battling talent. The dicey thing is that Henry frequently shows affection for her, as though they share a bond greater than Trainer and Pokémon."_

_ "They are an item? That's socially unacceptable."_

_ "I'm not sure on the specifics, but their relationship seems to be a sort of passive romance. That was where we hit a road block."_

_ "What's that?"_

_ "If she died, Henry would have been so grief-stricken he may have been driven to suicide. His schoolmates seem to say they wouldn't put it past him. But if she was left alone, there's no telling the damage she might have done. Until that idiot," he says, pointing at the Pest Controller, "acted on his own initiative, we could have been able to wrangle a deal with him. But now, it seems, he wants blood."_

_ "What're you going to do now?"_

_ Saturn's eyes glint. "Plan B."_


	10. Things That Go Bump In The Night

Absol woke in a flash. She could hear intruders.

Henry was fast asleep, but his face showed that it was anything but peaceful. Absol tried to shake him awake. It was no good. He just twitched in his sleep, his face twisting in whatever dreams were gripping his mind.

She got out of bed, hauling on a fluffy, navy-blue dressing gown. It was one o' clock in the morning. She knuckled the sleep from her eyes, and searched for Henry's belt in the darkness.

She found it eventually, and tugged a few Pokéballs from the holders. She popped them open as quietly as possible. Out burst Cradily, Sceptile and another Pokémon. It looked like a slim, short woman in a green blouse and white skirt, with a short red horn sprouting from the centre of its chest and back. It had violet eyes, and a neat mop of grass-green hair framing its pale face.

"OK, listen up," she said, in Absol-tongue. This was irrelevant, however; most Pokémon can naturally understand each other. "We've got intruders. We need to stop them before they make off with anything important. Gardevoir, Sceptile; you go outside and stop them getting a way of leaving. They may be using a getaway car."

Sceptile nodded and placed its hand on Gardevoir's shoulder, before they winked out of existence. Absol turned to Cradily.

"Keep it quiet," she whispered, and inched down the corridor. Cradily shuffled its slow way from the room, dragging its heavy body over the shag carpet with its stubby little legs.

The intruders were picking the lock on the fire escape. They were dressed in white jumpsuits, grey trousers and white boots. With a reassuring click, the lock opened and the door swung open slowly.

"Come on," grumbled one of the intruders. "Let's see what we can snag before the kid wakes up."

They had barely gone four paces before they sensed something was wrong. It started with the door snapping shut behind them as soon as they were in, clicking as the lock clamped itself shut. They had shrugged and walked in. They saw the computer sitting on the desk.

"You get the computer, I'll find his research papers," the second Grunt said. His partner sat at the desk and booted up the computer. This would be simple; hack the password, copy anything of worth, and turn it off again. Piece of cake.

He plugged a small device into a USB port. It buzzed for a second, then the password typed itself in. _Yuki_. The grunt would have laughed, if it weren't for the fact that it would have given them away.

The desktop loaded in a second. A small window flashed for attention on the taskbar. It was titled 'Shadows'. This would be _sooo_ easy ...

He clicked the window. It opened up to show ... a perfect view of the room. He frowned. So did his reflection. There wasn't a webcam in sight.

An instant messenger window popped up at the side of the window.

_ -[I see you hacked into my computer.]-_

_ Who is that?_ the Grunt asked.

_ -[Your worst nightmare.]-_

_I don't understand._

_ -[Don't you? Read carefully; I won't call the police. I won't steal your details. But I can tell you this – you will be very sorry you messed with me.]-_

The Grunt paused. What on Earth was the guy on about?

_ -[Just to let you know, I've won the first round. Your getaway vehicle is useless, and I'm hunting you down. I will destroy you if I catch you, and I _will _catch you.]-_

Cold sweat ran down the Grunt's neck. How was this computer saying this? The IP address showed it was the computer itself, responding to his intrusion.

_You won't catch me. You're a computer._

_ -[I wouldn't bank on it.]-_

_ The Parkinson kid is asleep. No-one else knows we are here._

_ -[Yes, I am asleep. You set off silent alarms all over the building the second you entered.]-_

"Oi!" he called as loudly as he dared. "How much security does this apartment have?"

"It should be off by now."

"Should?"

"He only turns it on when he isn't in the building."

"Oh, OK." The Grunt turned back to the computer screen.

_You lied._

_ -[I know. Watch closely ... ]-_

The Grunt stared at the screen, confused. His reflection wore an equally bemused expression. What exactly was going on here? 

Sceptile slid out of the Teleport silently, stepping out into the cool night. Gardevoir followed, picking her way delicately across the alley to where Sceptile was hiding.

There was a small van parked outside, the like used by the TV reporters that they had seen dotted around Hoenn and Sinnoh. A tall decal of a gold G was plastered on the side.

Sceptile looked at the wheels. "The rubber is thick," he said softly.

"What're we supposed to do?" asked Gardevoir, rubbing her arms and shivering.

"You deal with the driver, I'll deal with the van."

"How?"

"Use your imagination."

She nodded, and crept over to the cab. The driver was a strange man dressed like a tramp. She tugged open the door and clambered in.

"Hey, whaddya ..."

"Shhh," she said, pressing a slim finger to his lips. His eyelids instantly drooped, and he started snoring faintly. She edged away, before noticing the radio sitting on the dashboard. She popped the batteries out as an afterthought.

She leaned out of the window and gave Sceptile a thumbs-up. Sceptile nodded. The leaves on his wrists glowed green as he slashed the van's tyres. The air hissed as it escaped. He laid a single golden seed under the back end of the van, and breathed on it.

As though a sped-up film, they watched as the seed grew, punching through the steel bodywork like paper. In twenty seconds a full-grown tree stood up from the tarmac as if it had always been there.

"Great," said Gardevoir. "What now?"

A piercing scream answered her. 

A shadowy figure appeared behind his reflection. It appeared to be holding a straight-bladed, old-fashioned razor. The Grunt tried the get out of the seat, but he seemed to be frozen to the leather. He shut his eyes and turned away, but the figure in the screen had expected his move.

An arc of crimson agony sliced across his cheek. He winced; the pain was horribly real for an image in the screen. He touched the spot. His fingers were stained red when he looked at them again. Sick horror welled up in him. His mouth was dry, and he could taste bile.

He stared at the screen once more, eyes popping. The figure took another slash at his face, and another, and another. The Grunt chewed his lip, desperate not to make a sound. He didn't even noticed a female figure in a dressing-gown standing next to the sofa. A notice was on the messenger window.

_-[I warned you. I have found you. There will be no mercy now.]-_

The next slash cut straight through the other cheek. He could barely hold it in. He saw the shadow lower the knife for his throat. He couldn't take it. He screamed in terror, animalistic in its intensity. Flecks of blood splattered the screen as the ruined cheek was opened.

"Enough!" shouted Absol at the computer. The figure raised its head, nodded, and disappeared. The computer shut itself down. The hacking device burned itself out, curlicues of smoke floating from the plastic shell.

Cradily shot four of its tentacles, binding the Grunt securely, and hoisting him off the chair. He struggled and yelled, but Cradily blocked his mouth with the end of a tentacle. His colleague rushed in, as Absol had suspected. Cradily used its other four tentacles to grab him.

"I'm gonna cut to the chase; what the hell are you doing here?"

The second Grunt squirmed but remained silent.

"I should warn you; I'm tired and I'm hung-over, so don't you dare piss around with me."

Silence.

Cradily squeezed a bit tighter, but removed the gagging tentacle from the first Grunt's mouth. He immediately started mumbling incoherently.

"Did you know that Cradily tentacles are covered in pores?" asked Absol, stroking the huge green head affectionately. "Cradily ensnare their prey with their tentacles, then those pores secrete a corrosive acid. When the prey is dissolved to a half-digested pulp it is swallowed. Don't even put it past me."

"Why should I tell you anything, demon?" growled the second Grunt.

"Because I can make you very uncomfortable right now. So I suggest you answer me truthfully."

She stared in his eyes. "Why are you here?"

He tried to remain poker-faced.

"Cradily?"

The Pokémon obliged. A glistening fluid shone thinly on the tentacles. She could smell it burning slowly through the rubber.

"Fail to answer, or lie, and you become Cradily's midnight snack."

"The boss sent us."

"To do what?"

The Grunt hesitated. There was a hungry look in Cradily's yellow eyes.

"That's none of your business."

Absol raised an eyebrow, and folded her arms. He yelled in pain as the acid soaked through his undershirt.

"To steal the research on shadowforming!"

"Can I just say; did you really think it would be that easy? We got Dug to set up a false user that would come up if someone tried to enter the computer by force. The user you opened, it only had one file; an experimental project on subconscious alpha waves and REM data transmission. You hacked into it, and saw a mixture of your own imagination and Henry's dreams. Any pain experienced or hallucinations are merely a delusional placebo effect. Now why does Saturn want our research?"

"I don't know."

"Cradily, do the honours."

"It's the truth! He's telling the truth!" screamed the first Grunt hysterically, twisting and writhing like a possessed thing. "Master Saturn tells us what to do, not why!"

"He says 'jump', you say 'how high?', huh?" mused Absol.

"Yes, exactly! Let us go!"

"Hang on a sec," she said, before calling in Absol-tongue, "Gardevoir!"

Gardevoir and Sceptile slid into sync with reality in the living room.

"Did you do it?" she asked them, in Absol-tongue.

Gardevoir nodded. "The driver is asleep and will remember nothing of tonight. Sceptile took care of the van," she added, clapping the slightly taller Pokémon on the shoulder in a comradely way.

"I'd like to see them get that van out in a hurry," agreed Sceptile.

Absol pointed at the Grunts. "Wipe them too. Then leave them with the garbage."

Gardevoir placed a single finger on each of their foreheads. They yelled for a moment, but fell silent as a blank expression fell over their eyes. The three warped out of reality. Absol went into the kitchen and dug some leftover steak from the fridge. She tossed it to Cradily, saying, "Sorry it's cold."

Just as Cradily had swallowed the half-digested meat, Henry trudged into the living room. He wore a moss-green dressing gown and had heavy bags under his eyes. "What's been going on, Absol? I heard shouting."

"Just some intruders from Team Galactic. I've dealt with them. I don't think they got away with anything."

Henry looked in the briefcase the Grunts were using to stash the papers. His expression grew suddenly very hard.

"What's up?"

He stared at her. "It's not here."

"What?"

"The comprehensive report on shadowforming and its implications on society that I wrote for Dug and Devon Corp. They've essentially got everything we know."


End file.
